■*&pr 


64Sk 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

BY 

FREDERICK    HENRY    ADLER 

A.  B.  Ohio  State  University,  1909 
A.  M.  University  of  Illinois,  1911 


THESIS 

Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the 
Requirements  for  the 

Degree  of 
DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

,  IN  GER1V1AN  ,»3  > 


THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
1913 


P7>36¥ 

AW 


TO  MY  PARENTS 


PREFACE 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  whole  creative  and  classical 
period  of  German  literature  without  taking  into  considera- 
tion Klopstock's  significant  position  in  its  history  and  the 
powerful  influence  he  exerted  upon  its  greatest  personalities. 
His  wonderful  originating  powers  brought  forth  a  new  ideal  ,* 
of  humanity,  the  influence  of  which  has  been  felt  in  all 
succeeding  periods ;  his  thoughts,  and  the  language  he  clothed 
them  in,  may  be  traced  in  the  works  of  Germany's  greatest 
masters. 

The  chief  aim  of  the  present  work  has  been  to  present 
in  a  new  light  the  relation  of  Klopstock  to  Herder,  one  of 
his  great  contemporaries,  whose  genius  aided  in  causing  to 
grow  and  flourish  the  seed  sown  by  the  poet.  The  first 
part  resolves  itself  into  an  objective  treatment  of  the  per- 
sonal relations  of  the  two  men,  of  Herder's  knowledge  of 
Klopstock's  works,  and  of  his  critical  estimate  of  them.  In 
the  second  part  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  show  how  the 
spirit  of  the  new  world  of  ideas,  as  created  by  Klopstock, 
found  sympathetic  response  in  Herder,  and  how  it  in  turn 
received  expression  in  his  own  life  and  works.  The  last 
chapter  attempts  to  present  the  source  of  Klopstock's  new 
poetical  language ;  by  means  of  a  comparison  with  Herder's 
language,  it  aims  to  give  a  more  detailed  presentation  of  the 
intellectual  world  of  the  two  men. 


The  author  wishes  to  express  his  sincere  gratitude  to 
Professor  Julius  Goebel,  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  whose 
inspiration  and  kindly  guidance  has  made  this  work  possible, 
Also  to  his  friend,  Mr.  J.  Allan  Nevins,  who  read  most  of 
the  present  work  in  its  original  draft,  and  offered  many 
valuable  criticisms  regarding  style,  the  writer  desires  to 
express  his  most  hearty  thanks. 

Then,  finally,  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Irma  E.  Voigt,  for  her 
friendly  assistance,  the  writer  extends  his  most  heartfelt 
gratitude  and  appreciation. 

F.  H.  A. 

Cleveland,  March,  1914. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PART  I. 

Chapter  1.     Personal  Relations  1 

Chapter  2.     Herder  and  the  "Messiah"  18 
Chapter  3.     Herder  and  Klopstock's  Lyrical  Poetry         38 

PART  II 

Chapter  1.     The  Conception  of  the  Poet  58 

Chapter  2.     Religious  Views  73 

Chapter  3.     Patriotic  Endeavors  101 

PART  III. 

A  Treatment  of  Klopstock's  and  Herder's 

Poetic  Language  148 

Conclusion  224 

Bibliography  226 

Vita  232 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 
PART  I 


CHAPTER  I 
PERSONAL  RELATIONS 

The  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which,  by  causing 
man  to  realize  once  more  his  true  humanity,  transformed 
his  intellectual,  religious,  moral,  and  political  life,  first  mani- 
fested itself  in  England  and  France;  from  these  countries 
it  spread  into  Germany,  where  it  found  its  fullest  expression 
and  gave  rise  to  a  new  German  culture.  Literature  and 
criticism  were  the  active  forces  which  probably  did  most 
to  create  this  new  spirit;  they  sought  the  real,  the  natural, 
and  the  beautiful  in  art  and  life,  as  opposed  to  the  imitative, 
the  unnatural,  and  the  artificial.  Philosophy,  however, 
joined  hands  with  criticism,  and  the  search  for  the  aesthetic 
became  at  the  same  time  a  search  for  nature  and  for  true 
humanity.  The  bearer  of  this  new  message  was  primarily 
the  poet,  the  genius  as  the  highest  type  of  man,  in  whom 
all  the  human  faculties  were  most  perfectly  developed  and 
most  harmoniously  combined. 

The  influences  at  work  in  the  eighteenth  century  were  a 
protest  against  the  intellectualism  of  the  preceding  age. 
During  the  seventeenth  century  man  had  looked  with  distrust 
upon  his  emotional  nature  and  had  allowed  the  philosophy 


2  HEADER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

taught  by  Descartes  to  determine  his  world  of  thought. 
Reason  ruled  supreme  and  dominated  man's  whole  life. 
Customs,  fashions,  and  manners  were  artificial,  cut  and 
trimmed  to  satisfy  a  false  code  of  etiquette  and  morals; 
nature  herself  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  architect  and 
gardener ;  religion,  except  among  the  Pietists,  was  a  matter 
of  form  and  tradition,  and  not  of  inner  experience;  art  and 
literature  were  not  spontaneous  structures  of  the  imagina- 
tion, built  upon  a  vivid  experience  of  life,  but  cold  products 
of  the  intellect  working  by  the  rules  of  a  restrained  imitation. 
Man  had  discovered  the  narrowness  of  the  bounds  which 
hedge  in  the  usefulness  of  unaided  reason;  it  had  proved 
itself  unproductive  of  the  highest  expression  of  art,  of  liter- 
ature, and  of  life,  and  a  reaction  was  inevitable.  Human- 
ity was  bound  to  assert  itself ;  man's  feelings  and  imagina- 
tion were  again  to  play  a  part  in  human  affairs.  It  was 
the  advent  of  a  new  era. 

The  first  poet  to  give  this  new  spirit  full  expression  was 
Klopstock.  He,  indeed,  had  his  forerunners  in  Brockes, 
who  was  the  first  to  leave  his  books  and  return  to  nature 
for  inspiration ;  in  Drollinger  and  Haller,  who  went  further 
than  Brockes  and  made  man  the  object  of  their  poetry; 
and  above  all  in  his  own  teacher,  Gellert,  who  attempted  to 
bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  man  and  the  universe 
by  making  the  heart  the  source  of  man's  happiness.  Klop- 
stock, however,  passed  at  a  bound  far  beyond  these  men; 
his  genius  was  of  a  distinctly  higher  order.  In  him  the  old 
axiom,  "poeta  non  fit  sed  nascitur",  the  real  meaning  of 
which  had  been  forgotten,  again  proved  its  vitality  and  truth. 
Here  was  the  great  genius,  the  true  poet,  for  whom  German 
literature  had  been  waiting.  His  work  proved  that  the 
highest  art  is  an  unconscious  product  of  life  and  nature, 
and  an  expression  of  the  full,  healthy  man  himself.  As  a 
genius,  Klopstock  was  at  once  the  creator  of  a  new  poetic 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  3 

world ;  a  world  so  vast,  so  sublime,  that  only  the  few  were 
able  to  comprehend  it.  The  introduction  of  the  classical 
form  in  his  poetry,  too,  hindered  his  attaining  such  popu- 
larity as  had  Gellert.  It  was  inevitable  that  a  poet  pos- 
sessed with  such  an  endowment  should  not  be  understood 
by  all  at  his  first  appearance. 

The  first  person  to  appreciate  Klopstock  fully  was  Herder; 
he  possessed  that  height  of  feeling  and  intellect  which  alone 
could  kindle  at  the  divine  spark  which  burned  in  Klopstock's 
poetry.  Like  the  great  poet,  Herder,  too,  was  a  path-finder, 
a  prophet,  and  a  leader  seeking  truth.  He  sought  inspira- 
tion for  the  new  life  in  the  history  of  the  past,  while  Klop- 
stock more  often  sought  it  in  the  present.  But  both  sought 
it  in  experience;  in  life,  and  not  in  abstract  thinking. 
Herder,  as  thinker,  was  rather  the  critical  interpreter  of 
the  new  spirit;   Klopstock,  as  poet,  was  its  creator. 

Herder's  youth  was  passed  in  those  years  in  which  the 
new  life  brought  by  Klopstock  was  for  the  first  time  mak- 
ing itself  felt  most  powerfully  in  the  younger  generation. 
As  one  just  entering  upon  his  literary  career,  he  was  more 
susceptible  to  its  influence  than  was  Lessing,  who  was  of 
the  older  generation,  and  whose  position  in  the  literary 
world  was  already  established.  Again,  the  new  spirit  was 
able  to  make  a  deeper  impression  upon  Herder  than  it  did 
later  on  the  members  of  the  Gottinger  Hainbund;  or  on 
Goethe  and  Schiller,  and,  later  still,  on  Fichte,  for  it  was  in 
all  its  freshness  and  vigor  when  he  caught  it  up  and  carried 
it  onward.  Near  the  close  of  his  own  life,  when  "Ger- 
many's first  singer"  had  just  passed  away,  Herder  recalls 
the  time  of  Klopstock's  first  appearance  and  the  effect  his 
poetry  had  on  him.  It  was  like  "a  festive  morn  rising  up 
over  icy  mountains. "  He  acknowledges  his  remarkable 
genius  as  the  creator  of  a  new  language,  of  a  greater  poetry, 
and  a  new  life.     When  as  a  youth  he  read  the  first  lyrical 


4  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

poems  of  Klopstock,  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  the  ancients  had 
been  brought  home  to  him,  and  Horace  and  the  muses  had 
come  down  from  heaven.  Thus  early  even,  Herder  found 
in  the  poet  the  spirit  of  humanity,  and  the  elements  of  true 
culture,  which  he  had  met  in  the  ancient  classics.1 

Until  the  age  of  eighteen  Herder  lived  in  his  native  town 
of  Mohrungen;  the  last  two  years  of  this  period,  from 
1760  to  1762,  he  lived  in  the  house  of  Pastor  Trescho,  acting 
as  his  secretary,  and  making  use  of  his  library  for  his  own 
edification.  A  great  deal  of  Klopstock's  work  had  already 
been  published,2  but  exactly  how  much  of  it  Herder  found 
among  Trescho's  books  it  is  impossible  to  determine;  it  is 
a  reasonable  presumption,  however,  considering  the  many 
works  he  did  find  there,3  that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
the  "Messiah",  if  not  of  more,  during  these  years.  Even 
though  a  man  of  Trescho's  temperament  could  scarcely  have 
appreciated    Klopstock's    full   power,   yet,    considering   his 

iSuphan,  XXIV,  202,  277,  (1803).  Compare  Suphan,  I,  165, 
(1767);    11,42,  (1768);    XXIV,  293,  (1803). 

2  Up  to  1762  there  had  appeared  of  Klopstock's  works : — 1748, 
"Der  Messias",  songs  I  to  III,  in  "Bremer  Beitrage" ;  1749,  a 
reprint  by  Hemmerde  in  Halle;  1751,  volume  I  of  the  "Messiah", 
songs  I  to  V,  (Hemmerde,  Halle)  ;  1752,  reprint  of  songs  IV  to  V; 
1755,  revised  edition  of  volume  I,  and  first  edition  of  volume  II 
with  songs  VI  to  X,  (Copenhagen)  ;  1756,  volume  II,  published 
separately;  1760,  a  new  edition  of  volume  I.  Beginning  with  1748, 
in  the  "Bremer  Beitrage",  Klopstock's  odes  and  elegies  appeared 
each  year  in  various  publications,  sometimes  without  the  author's 
knowledge.  "Der  Tod  Adams",  Klopstock's  first  drama,  appeared 
in  1757,  (Copenhagen  and  Leipzig).  In  1758  appeared  the  first  part 
of  the  "Geistliche  Lieder".  Of  Klopstock's  prose  writings  there 
was  published  in  1753,  "Drei  Gebete  eines  Freigeistes,  Christen  und 
guten  Konigs",  (Hamburg)  ;  while  in  the  edition  of  the  "Messiah" 
of  1755  appeared  the  two  essays,  "Von  der  heiligen  Poesie"  and 
"Von  der  Nachahmung  des  griechischen  Sylbenmaases  im  Deut- 
schen". 

3  Erinnerungen  I,  29, — Opitz,  Haller,  Hagedorn,  Gellert,  Uz, 
Lessing,  Creuz,  Young,  Kleist,  Simon  Dach.  Haym  (I,  14)  believes 
Herder  read  the  "Messiah"  in  Trescho's  library. 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  5 

pietistic  views,  the  religious  enthusiasm  expressed  in  Klop- 
stock's poetry,  particularly  in  the  "Messiah",  must  have 
attracted  Herder's  master. 

Herder  possessed  a  religious,  lyrical  nature,  derived  in 
some  part  from  his  parents'  teaching  and  his  early  training ; 
and  the  religious,  lyrical  tones  in  Klopstock's  poetry  un- 
doubtedly found  ready  response  in  his  heart.1  He  himself 
tells  us  what  a  powerful  impression  the  poet  made  on  him : 
"My  power  of  imagination  in  a  healthy  mental  condition 
is  much  too  cold  for  my  ever  becoming  an  enthusiast;  but 
this  much  I  know,  that  individual  passages  in  Klopstock 
made  such  a  deep  impression  on  me,  that  for  days  at  a  time 
my  soul  was  attuned  to  them,  (stimmte  den  Ton  meiner 
Seele)".2 

From  the  summer  of  1762  to  the  autumn  of  1764  Herder 
lived  in  Koenigsberg.  Here  Hamann,  who  was  already 
well  acquainted  with  Klopstock's  works,  recognized  the 
young  critic's  unusual  talent  and  became  his  teacher. 
Indeed,  Hamann  had  read  and  studied  Klopstock's  "Lie- 
der",3  odes,  and  prose  writings,4  Meta's  posthumous  works,5 
and  the  "Messiah",6 — practically  all  that  had  appeared  of 
the  poet.  As  early  as  1759  he  recognized  Klopstock's  lyr- 
ical genius  and  his  great  talent  as  a  writer  of  prose.4  A 
year    later6    he    compared    Klopstock    and    Bodmer    with 

iSuphan,  XXIV,  277,   (1803).    Lebensbild  I,  1,  p.  154. 

2  Suphan,  I,  523. 

3  Hamann,  I,  298.    Hamann  to  G.  E.  Lindner,  Sept.  16,  1758. 

4  Hamann,  I,  414.  Hamann  to  J.  G.  Lindner  in  Riga,  July  20, 
1759. 

Hamann,  II,  22,  (1759).  Hamann  recalls  the  fact  that  Klop- 
stock had  said  the  Germans  had  not  studied  Luther's  language 
enough. 

5  Hamann,  I,  447,  466,   (1759). 

6  Hamann,  III,  6.  To  his  brother  in  Riga,  Jan.  9,  1760.  Hamann 
says  Bodmer  and  Klopstock  both  studied  Homer. 

Hamann,  III,  199.  To  J.  G.  Lindner,  June  29,  1763.  Hamann 
considers  v.  Moser's  epic  the  best  before  Klopstock  and  Gessner. 


6  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Homer.  He  considered  Klopstock  a  master  of  the  Ger- 
man language  and  prosody,  while  he  called  his  prose  "a 
model  of  classical  perfection".1  In  the  very  year  Herder 
came  to  Koenigsberg,  Hamann  termed  the  poet  "a  great 
singer  of  Germany"2  and  the  "great  restorer  of  the  lyric".3 
Even  if  Herder  had  not  read  Klopstock  before  coming 
to  Koenigsberg,  which  seems  improbable,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  but  that  Hamann  aroused  an  appreciation  for  the 
German  poet,  as  he  did  for  Shakespeare,  in  his  young 
pupil.4  Herder's  early  poetical  works,  in  spirit  and  lan- 
guage, reveal  an  influence  of  Klopstock;5  his  other  work, 
too,  shows  that  the  poet  had  taken  a  place  in  his  intellectual 
life  during  his  stay  in  Koenigsberg.  The  outline  made  for 
"Ueber  die  altesten  Urkunden  des  Menschengeschlechts" 
shows  that  the  treatise  was  intended  to  be  a  comparative 
study  of  the  modern  and  ancient  epic.  The  writings  of 
Klopstock,  Milton,  Bodmer,  Gessner,  and  of  other  poets 
were  to  be  compared  with  the  oldest  poetic  monuments.5 
Among  his  other  productions  were  an  outline  for  a  history 
of  poetry,6  a  comparative  study  of  Horace  and  Pindar,  and 
of  the  Greek  and  French  tragedy,7  and  an  essay  on  the 
ode.8  Thus,  even  at  this  early  age  (he  was  scarcely  twenty 
years  old),  Herder's  talent  in  the  field  of  comparative  criti- 
cism in  all  forms  of  literature  manifested  itself.  Klopstock 
and  Milton  aroused  his  interest  in  the  epic ;  Shakespeare  en- 

i  Hamann,  II,  305,   (1762). 

2  Hamann,  II,  163,   (1762). 

3  Hamann,  II,  303,   (1762). 

4  Erinnerungen  I,  114.  Lebensbild  I,  2,  pp.  5,  9,  116.  When 
Herder  went  to  Riga  he  and  Hamann  continued  their  interest  in 
Klopstock  and  sent  each  other  manuscript  copies  of  his  works. 

5  Erinnerungen  I,  90.     Compare  Haym  I,  63,  281,  416. 

6  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  pp.  98ff. 

7  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  pp.  8ff. 

8  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  pp.  61—98. 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  7 

listed  his  mind  in  a  study  of  the  drama.1  Klopstock's  lyrics, 
most  probably,  and  the  simple  songs  in  the  great  English 
poet's  plays,  became  a  new  source  of  inspiration  for  Herder's 
love  for  the  lyric  and  song.  This  love  had  been  awakened 
when,  early  in  his  youth,  he  learned  to  read  the  Bible  and 
hymnal  at  his  father's  knee  ;2  later  it  was  to  break  forth  in 
his  enthusiasm  for  the  Volkslied. 

In  1764,  the  year  he  went  to  Riga,  Herder  showed  in  a 
discussion  of  the  drama,  "Salomo",  that  he  had  already 
comprehended  Klopstock's  genius.  An  unfavorable  crit- 
icism of  the  play,  wherein  it  had  been  measured  by  the  tra- 
ditional dramatic  rules  of  the  critic  and  been  found  want- 
ing, had  just  appeared.  This  Herder  answers  by  condemn- 
ing the  critic  who  compares  every  new  work  with  a  stand- 
ard and  so  neglects  entirely  that  very  element  of  genius 
which  makes  the  new  author's  production  distinctive  from 
all  other  recognized  masterpieces  in  the  same  department 
of  literature.3  Herder  recognizes  that  the  true  genius  is 
original  and  produces  his  own  laws.  He  repudiates  all 
attempts  to  manufacture  formulae  and  to  pronounce  an 
epic,  a  drama,  impossible  unless  it  follows  the  Greek  or 
Latin  classics  as  models.  If  the  critic  were  to  do  this,  he 
protests  in  the  "Fragmente",  Shakespeare  and  all  the  unborn 
Shakespeares  for  whom  the  German  stage  hopes,  Ossian 
and  Klopstock,  and  all  future  Ossians  and  Klopstocks  for 
whom  German  literature  is  waiting,  would  cry  out  against 
him.4  Here  we  see  clearly  that  these  three,  Shakespeare, 
Ossian,  and  Klopstock,  are  for  Herder  three  orginal  gen- 
iuses, true  poets,  born  and  not  made,  who  threw  aside  all 

1  Haym  I,  61.     Hamann  introduced  Herder  to  "Paradise  Lost" 
and  "Hamlet". 

2  Erinnerungen,  I,  70.     Lebensbild  I,  1,  p.  154. 
^Suphan,  IV,  311. 

4  Suphan,  I,  437. 


8  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

existing  rules  and  conventionalities  and  became  a  law  unto 
themselves. 

We  get  a  personal  touch  of  Herder's  interest  in  his 
contemporaries  in  a  letter  written  to  Gleim  in  February, 
1767.  He  tells  us  that  in  his  study  in  Riga  hung  the 
pictures  of  several  favorite  Germans,  with  none  of  whom 
he  became  personally  acquainted  till  later.  The  pictures 
were  hung  in  a  triangle;  at  the  top  was  Klopstock,  then 
Gleim  and  Kleist,  and  below,  Haller,  Winckelmann,  and 
Bodmer.1  Klopstock  and  Winckelmann,  Herder  considered 
two  extremes  of  the  German  genius,  two  margraves  of 
German  majesty.2 

It  was  Herder's  belief  that  even  the  poet  himself,  in 
reading  his  own  productions,  could  never  again  attain  the 
height  which  his  emotions  had  reached  at  the  time  of  the 
original  inspiration,  although  he  could  approach  it  more 
nearly  than  any  other  mortal.3  He  was  anxious,  therefore, 
to  hear  an  author,  who  alone  could  evoke  the  best  from  his 
work,  declaim  it.  Accordingly  he  writes  to  Scheffner,  in 
1766,  that  he  is  very  anxious  to  go  on  a  journey  to  hear 
Ramler,  Ebert,  and  Klopstock  recite  their  poetry.4  We  will 
recall  here  that  Herder  often  said  that  the  human  soul  could 
be  reached  more  perfectly  through  the  sense  of  hearing 
than  through  any  of  the  other  senses ;  hence  the  importance 
of  hearing  poetry  read  aloud.  He  was  not  to  set  out,  how- 
ever, till  three  years  later. 

On  May  24,  1769,  he  left  Riga,  and  set  sail  on  June  5th. 
From  the  "Reisejournal"  (1769)  we  learn  how  anxious 
Herder  had  been  to  get  out  of  his  study  and  away  from  his 
writing-table,  and  to  enter  upon  a  wider  world  of  actuality 

iLebensbild  I,  2,  p.  237. 
2Suphan,  III,  250,  (1769). 
3Suphan,  V,  365,  (1772). 
4  Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  192. 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  9 

and  humanity;  upon  a  larger  quest  of  personal  develop- 
ment and  actual  experience  of  life.  Hence  we  can  under- 
stand why  he  took  few  or  no  books  with  him  when  he  set 
sail.1  But  when  he  later,  on  board  ship,  regrets  not  having 
brought  Klopstock's  "Messiah",  "Lieder"  and  "Hermanns- 
schlacht",2  the  place  which  Klopstock's  works  occupied  in 
Herder's  inner  life  becomes  most  significant.  It  was  his 
earnest  intention  to  disembark  at  Copenhagen  and  visit 
Klopstock,  but  a  series  of  unfortunate  circumstances  pre- 
vented this  and  carried  him  on  to  France.1  How  deeply  he 
regretted  this  failure,  and  how  much  he  hoped  to  have 
gained  from  a  personal  acquaintance  thus  begun,  we  learn 
a  few  months  later  from  the  "Reisejournal".  He  breathes 
a  devout  wish  that  he  might  have  become  acquainted  with 
Klopstock's  wonderful  mind  and  personality.  He  would 
have  read  the  "Messiah"  together  with  him;  have  heard 
him  recite  his  own  poetry,  and  have  obtained  a  proper  idea 
of  his  meter;  have  learned  of  his  great  conception  of  the 
"Messiah"  and  of  his  religion ;  have  discussed  current  events 
with  him.  Above  all  he  wishes  he  could  have  caught  "a 
spark  of  his  fire".3 

Klopstock  knew  of  Herder's  journey,  and,  it  would  seem, 
expected  a  visit  from  him,  for  in  a  letter  to  Gleim,  written 
September  7,  1769,  he  refers  to  the  critic's  voyage.  He 
speaks  of  Herder  as  a  "critical  mountain  which  has  given 
birth  to  mice  and  squirrels."  A  critic,  he  adds,  has  but  a 
single  voice,  and  of  this  voice  he  demands  that  it  be  not 
of  small  volume,  if  it  would  make  itself  heard.4  He  does 
not  recognize,  or  does  not  wish  to  acknowledge,  Herder's 

1  Briefwechsel  mit  Nicolai,  p.  46.    To  Nicolai,  August,  1769. 

2Lebensbild  II,  14.  Erinnerungen  I,  139.  To  Hartknoch,  Tune, 
1769. 

3Suphan,  IV,  434,   (1769). 

4Klamer  Schmidt  II,  234. 


10  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

superior  talents  as  a  critic.  This  is  characteristic  of  Klop- 
stock;  he  always  felt  a  pride  in  being  a  poet,  and  a  poet 
alone,  and  master  of  his  own  productions.  Only  four  years 
before  his  death  he  wrote  to  Herder :  "I  have  never  wished 
to  rule  over  others  in  anything;  but  (thanks  to  you  once 
more,  my  genius  !)  neither  have  others  ever  ruled  over  me."1 

In  Nantes,  during  the  summer  of  1769,  Herder  regards 
himself  an  exile  from  German  literature,  for  he  is  unable 
to  procure  a  single  book  in  German.  Among  other  works 
he  longs  to  see  again  Klopstock's  "Messiah",  "Lieder"  and 
"Hermannsschlacht",2  just  as  he  had  longed  for  them  on 
board  ship.  He  regrets  that  the  French  know  nothing  of 
Germany  but  its  name.  The  "Litteratur  Briefe",  he  says, 
were  mistaken  in  their  estimate  of  the  impression  made  by 
the  "journal  etranger"  on  the  French.  The  latter  know 
only  corrupted  names  and  possibly  a  few  fragments,  but 
little  of  the  real  status  and  content  of  German  literature. 
Gessner  is  best  known  and  most  admired  of  the  German 
poets;  Klopstock,  certainly,  is  not  adapted  to  the  French 
taste.  The  French  philosophers,  he  believes,  even  to 
Diderot,  the  greatest  of  them,  know  only  too  little  of 
German  philosophy.3 

Before  1771  Klopstock's  odes  had  not  appeared  in  book- 
form  and  were  circulated  largely  in  manuscript  among  his 
friends  and  admirers.  Herder  was  one  of  the  most  ardent 
collectors  of  the  poems,  for  which  he  wrote  from  one  end 
of  Germany  to  the  other.4  In  the  summer  of  1770,  Herder 
and  Caroline  Flachsland,  his  beloved,  read  Klopstock  to- 

1  Lappenberg,  p.  418.    To  Herder,  November  13,  1799. 
2Lebensbild  II,  40.     Brw.  mit  Nicolai,  p.  47.    To  Nicolai,  Aug. 
1769. 

3  Brw.  mit  Nicolai,  p.  53.     To  Nicolai,  Paris,  Nov.  30,  1769. 

4  Lebensbild  III,  1,  pp.  157,  224,  276,  308,  325.  Lebensbild  1,  2, 
p.  116. 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  11 

gether  in  Darmstadt;  particularly  the  lyrical  poems,  so 
carefully  gleaned  from  many  sources,  which  they  recited 
and  sang  together.1  To  his  whole  circle  of  friends  in 
Darmstadt  Herder  read  the  odes  and  the  most  beautiful 
passages  from  the  "Messiah".2  It  was  in  this  city,  too, 
that  the  first  edition  of  the  odes  was  published  early  in  1771. 

From  October,  1770,  to  April,  1771,  Herder  was  in 
Strassburg  undergoing  medical  treatment.  During  these 
months,  amid  all  his  physical  suffering,  he  opened  up  a 
new  world  for  the  young  genius,  Goethe,  and  made  him  see 
the  true  mission  of  the  poet.  In  his  dreary  hours  of  soli- 
tude, however,  he  turned  for  relief  and  comfort  to  the 
ancient  classics,  to  Ossian,  to  Shakespeare,  and  to  Klopstock.3 
In  Bikkeburg,  where  he  went  from  Strassburg,  he  was  still 
reading  Klopstock.4  In  a  love-letter  to  Caroline  he  draws 
upon  the  strength  of  his  admiration  for  Klopstock  for  a 
forcible  image  of  passionate  emotion:  "You  are  as  much 
to  me  as  the  chapters  in  the  Koran,  which  the  angel,  Gabriel, 
brought  to  him,  were  to  Mohammed;  every  letter  is  worth 
more  than  an  ode  of  Klopstock! — for  it  is  truth,  an  out- 
pouring of  the  most  beautiful  and  the  fullest  heart;  sim- 
plicity itself ;  yea  and  amen  !"5 

Herder  also  recognized  the  deeper  meaning  of  Klopstock's 
poetry,  for  in  his  knowledge  of  the  human  soul  he  places 
Klopstock  with  Homer,  Sophocles,  Dante,  and  Shakespeare, 
"who  have  contributed  more  toward  psychology  and  the 
knowledge  of  human  nature  than  the  Aristotles  and  Leib- 
nitzes  of  all  peoples  and  all  times."6     In  Herder's  opinion 

1  Nachlass  III,  81.     Erinnerungen  I,  154. 

2  Erinnerungen  I,   154. 

3  Erinnerungen  I,  161. 

4  Nachlass  III,  81,  125. 

5  Nachlass  III,  344,  458. 
6Suphan  VIII,  171,  (1778). 


12  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

the  great  poet  is  at  the  same  time  a  great  philosopher. 
Shakespeare,  as  poet  and  philosopher,  penetrated  deeply  into 
the  very  fundamental  elements  out  of  which  human  nature 
grows ;  Klopstock  succeeded  in  attaining  the  height  at  which 
a  spiritual  soul  detaches  itself  from  objective  and  earthly 
things,  and  realizes  its  own  nature.1  Homer  and  Sophocles, 
Shakespeare  and  Klopstock,  are  poets  of  the  emotions,  of 
passions,  of  love ;  they  know  the  human  heart  to  its  greatest 
depths;  they  do  not  pick  to  pieces,  philosophize  over  mo- 
tives, impulses,  emotions,  and  feelings  until  no  real  enjoy- 
ment, no  real  life  is  left  for  the  reader;  they  are  creators 
and  exhibitors  of  the  human  soul ;  they  present  the  operation 
of  all  motives,  the  play  of  all  impulses.  Thus  they  bestir 
the  blood,  overwhelm  the  mind,  and  arouse  the  sympathy 
of  their  readers.2  In  his  power  to  express  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  innermost  depths  of  the  soul,  Klopstock  is  a 
poet,  philosopher,  and  psychologist,  all  in  one.3 

In  a  letter  to  Lavater,  written  October  30,  1772,  Herder 
calls  Klopstock  a  heavenly  genius  in  a  human  body.4  Four 
months  before  he  writes  to  his  betrothed  that  he  is  very 
anxious  to  meet  Wieland,  but  he  must  confess  he  is  more 
anxious  to  know  Klopstock.5  Up  to  this  time  he  had  not 
even  written  to  the  genius  he  admired  so  much.  In  the 
spring  of  1773,  however,  Herder  sent  his  review  of  Klop- 
stock's  odes6  and  "Von  Deutscher  Art  und  Kunst"  to 
Klopstock  by  his  friend,  Claudius.  In  his  letter  to  Herder, 
May  5,  1773,  Klopstock  says  that  he  had  intended  writing 
before  he  heard  from  him,  in  order  to  ask  him  why  he  had 

iSuphan  VIII,  184,  (1778). 
2Suphan  II,  174,  (1767-68). 
3Suphan  II,  42,  (1768). 

4  Nachlass  II,  42. 

5  Nachlass  III,  270. 

6  Appeared  in  Nicolai's  "Allgemeine  Bibliothek". 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  13 

criticized  the  "Hermannsschlacht"  as  lacking  in  dramatic 
action,  and  to  inquire  what  his  ideas  concerning  this  drama 
were.  It  seems  the  proposed  discussion  was  never  con- 
summated. 

This  first  letter,  the  beginning  of  the  correspondence 
between  the  two  men,  is  very  important;  written  in  1773, 
when  the  poet  was  forty-nine  years  old,  it  shows  how  much 
he  thought  of  Herder  as  a  critic,  although  the  latter  was  a 
full  twenty  years  younger.  It  is  evident  that  since  his 
letter  to  Gleim,  in  1769,  Klopstock  has  learned  to  appreciate 
the  young  critic's  superior  ability.  He  remarks :  "In  all  my 
life,  I  have  never  written  to  one  who — even  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  word — was  a  critic ;  you  are  the  exception,  and 
will  doubtless  remain  the  single  exception.  The  main 
reason  for  this  is  that  you  are  a  critic  by  virtue  of  your 
delicacy  of  taste  (sehr  starke  Empfindung)".1 

Herder  visited  Lessing  and  Claudius  in  Hamburg  in 
April,  1770,2  but  he  did  not  meet  Klopstock,  who  was  still 
in  Copenhagen.  According  to  a  letter  which  J.  G.  Zimmer- 
mann  wrote  (October  14,  1774)  in  answer  to  Herder's 
letter  of  September  27th,  it  seems  the  latter  had  intended 
going  to  Hannover  on  September  11th  to  see  Klopstock, 
who  visited  Madame  Alberti  on  that  day.3  The  first  week 
in  April,  1775,  the  poet  came  to  Hannover  again,4  but 
Herder  was  not  to  make  his  acquaintance  till  eight  years 
later. 

In  the  spring  of  1783,  Herder,  accompanied  by  his  nine- 
year  old  son,  Gottfried,  went  to  Hamburg,  where  he  met 
Klopstock  for  the  first  time.5     In  acknowledgment  of  this 

1  Lappenberg    p.  249. 

2Lebensbild  III,  26.     Nachlass  I,  357. 

3  Nachlass  II,  342. 

4  Nachlass  II,  349. 

5  Nachlass  II,  238.  Erinnerungen  II,  238.  Herder's  Familien- 
leben,  p.  18. 


14  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

visit  Herder  writes  to  Klopstock,  July  3,  1783:  "Indeed, 
dearest  Klopstock,  I  wish  my  visit  with  you  had  been  more 
than  a  visit — could  have  become  friendship.  I  have  always 
had  the  highest  regard  for  you ;  now  I  love  you,  and  the  tran- 
quillity (Ruhe)1  which  hovers  about  you,  often  comes  to 
me.  I  wish  I  could  live  near  you,  in  happy  Holstein ;  yet ! 
— and  yet — 'oft  He  fulfils,  what  the  longing', — or  He  gives 
us  something  better.  I  desire  nothing  more  in  this  life  !"2 
How  different  would  have  been  the  result  if  Herder  had 
met  the  poet  in  1766,  when  he  longed  to  leave  Riga  and  go 
on  a  pilgrimage;  or  even  if  he  had  seen  him  in  1769,  when 
he  hoped  to  catch  "a  spark  of  his  fire!"  Herder  was  but 
a  youth  then,  and  the  world  was  still  but  opening  before 
him;  Hamann  had  helped  to  awaken  in  him  a  taste  for  the 
genuine  in  art,  and  in  Klopstock  he  would  have  found  a 
second  great  teacher,  and  the  realization  of  his  idea  of  a 
genius.  Nevertheless,  it  was  still  an  event  for  him  to  be 
able  to  make  the  personal  acquaintance  of  the  great  man 
who  had  expressed  his  own  feelings  and  thoughts,  whose 
language  and  verse  he  had  studied,  whose  odes  he  knew  by 
heart,  whose  footsteps  he  had  followed  in  his  own  poetry. 
He  had  assimilated  Klopstock's  spirit  so  fully  that  there  was 
little  new  for  him  to  learn  when  he  made  the  poet's  personal 
acquaintance.  The  best  that  was  in  Klopstock's  soul  he  had 
long  before  discovered,  and  incorporating  it  in  his  own 
heart,  had  expressed  it  in  his  own  work  and  life. 

This  short  visit  in  Hamburg  was  but  a  pleasant  memory 
for  Herder,  until  Frau  Johanna  Elizabeth  von  Winthem, 
who  may  be  ranked  among  the  "Klopstockianer"  in  her 
admiration  for  the  poet,  cast  a  cloud  over  it.  Someone  had 
called  her  attention  to  the  nineteenth  of  the  "Theologische 

1  This  tranquillity  was  lacking  in  Herder's  nature. 
2Lappenberg,  p.  310. 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  15 

Briefe",  in  which  Herder  criticized  adversely  the  use  of 
Biblical  history  as  a  subject  for  epic  treatment.  She  con- 
sidered such  a  criticism  an  indirect  condemnation  of  the 
"Messiah",  and  became  suspicious  of  the  way  in  which  the 
critic  avoided  a  direct  mention  of  Klopstock's  masterpiece. 
She  was  unable  to  understand  how  anyone  could  hold  such 
a  view  and  yet  have  an  honest  admiration  for  Klopstock's 
genius  as  a  poet ;  she  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Herder,  in  which 
she  demanded  an  explanation.  Herder,  in  all  probability, 
did  not  answer  this  letter,  and  there  is  no  evidence  of  any 
direct  correspondence  between  him  and  Klopstock  for  a 
period  of  twelve  years  or  more.1  <— 

After  the  year  1795,  however,  the  relations  of  the  two 
men  became  more  and  more  friendly.  The  disfavor  with 
which  both  viewed  critical  philosophy,2  their  dislike  for 
Goethe  and  Schiller,3  their  attitude  toward  English  litera- 
ture,4 their  linguistic  and  aesthetic  studies,  their  patriotic 
endeavors, — all  this  kept  their  interest  in  each  other  alive.5 
Friends,  acquaintances,  or  young  proteges  frequently 
brought  tidings  from  one  to  the  other,  and  thus  the  bond  of 
friendship  was  drawn  more  closely  together.6  In  July, 
1797,  Herder's  son  visited  Klopstock.7  On  March  21, 
1797,  Klopstock  sends  his  friend  the  ode,  "Unsere  Sprache 
an  Uns",  which  had  been  omitted  from  the  Goschen  col- 
lection.8    He  sends  Herder  a  few  epigrams  "for  his  desk  or 

AHaym   II,   189. 

2  Lappenberg,  p.  402.  Archiv  fur  Litt.  Gesch.,  1873-74,  Vol.  Ill, 
407. 

3  Archiv.  fur  Litt.  Gesch.,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  396,  400,  409. 

4  Archiv.  fur  Litt.  Gesch.,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  393,  407.    Lappenberg,  p 

5  Compare  Muncker,  "Klopstock",  p.  537. 

6  Lappenberg,  pp.  379,  402,  417,  422.  Archiv  fur  Litt  Gesch. 
Vol.  Ill,  266. 

7  Archiv  fur  Litt.  Gesch.,  Vol.  Ill,  268. 

8  Lappenberg,  p.  379. 


16  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

for  the  'Aurora' "  on  November  13,  1799,  and  follows  them 
with  more  two  weeks  later.1  Finally,  in  his  letter  of 
December  5,  1799,  Herder  bids  Frau  Klopstock  send  him  a 
copy  of  Gluck's  composition  of  Klopstock's  odes.2 

Indeed,  although  the  men  had  not  written  to  each  other 
for  twelve  years  or  more,  Herder  had  never  forgotten  Klop- 
stock. In  the  twentieth  of  the  "Theologische  Briefe" 
(1780-85)  he  calls  the  poet  one  of  the  greatest  composers 
of  hymns;3  and  in  the  forty-seventh  "Brief "  he  considers 
him  perhaps  the  first  poet  in  the  expression  of  sublime 
v  majesty  (stille  Majestat)  and  of  "sanfte  Gute".4  In  the 
essays  dealing  with  Ossian  and  Homer  (1791-96),  Klopstock 
is  considered  greater  than  Milton,  and  to  be  compared  only 
with  Homer  and  Ossian.5  In  the  second  part  of  the 
"Terpsichore"  (1795)  Herder  apostrophizes  Klopstock:  "O 
great,  amiable  poet,  speaker  of  the  purest  emotions  of  our 
soul,  thou  canst  sometime  bow  thy  head  happily;  in  thy 
songs  thou  hast  become  a  swan,  whose  voice  will  die  away 
only  with  the  last  notes  of  our  language."6 

Both  great  men  died  the  same  year, — Klopstock  on  March 
14th,  and  Herder  on  December  18,  1803.  Their  mutual 
friend,  Gleim,  preceded  both  in  death.  Caroline  Herder 
writes  to  Georg  Muller  concerning  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band's two  friends :  "Good  old  'fiery'  Gleim  worried  enough 
over  this  delusion  (philosophy) ;  may  he  be  at  rest  now, 
that  man  of  intellect  and  heart !  And  so,  too,  may  Klopstock 
rest,  that  heavenly  soul !  The  death  of  these  two  men  affec- 
ted my  husband  very  much."7 

1  Lappenberg,  pp.  418,  419. 
2Lappenberg,  p.  423. 

3  Suphan  XI. 

4  Suphan  XI,  81,  (1781-1786). 

5  Suphan  XVIII,  590 

6  Suphan  XXVII,  172,   (1795). 

7  Preussische  Jahrbucher,  Vol.  29,  p.   158- 


PERSONAL  RELATIONS  17 

When  the  great  poet  died,  Herder  poured  out  his  soul 
once  more  in  praise  of  him.  He  was  about  to  compare 
Horace  with  two  of  his  emulators,  with  Klopstock  and 
Ramler,  when  the  news  of  the  death  of  "Germany's  first 
singer"  reached  him;  his  pen  dropped  from  his  hand,  and 
refused  to  compare  Klopstock  with  anyone.  Klopstock 
stands  alone!  Herder  sees  the  poet's  sacred  muse  appear 
before  him,  and  hears  her  proclaim  his  merits.  'Before 
Klopstock's  appearance  the  German  poets  were  "thruming 
on  a  wooden  chopping-board"  of  Alexandrines,  rhymed 
iambics,  trochees,  and  dactyls ;  but  Klopstock's  muse  brought, 
whence  she  came,  an  entirely  new  meter.  In  spite  of 
scorn,  mockery,  and  complaint,  Klopstock  continued  in  his 
new  path,  for  he  knew  he  was  seeking  the  highest  simplicity 
in  form  and  the  purest  grace  and  charm.  The  highest 
poetry  was  his  goal, — the  poetry  of  the  heart.  He  made 
the  whole  German  language  melodious  in  his  own  original 
way.  In  his  "Messiah"  he  gave  the  Germans  their  first 
classical  book,  excepting  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible. 
He  recreated  the  poetic  language  of  Germany,  and  his  crea- 
tion will  remain  as  long  as  the  echo  resounds  in  the  woods 
and  in  the  mountains.  His  voice  will  never  die  away  as 
long  as  the  German  language  lives,  but  his  peaceful  soul 
dwells  above.'1  Thus  Herder  summarizes  his  estimate  of 
Klopstock,  the  first  great  modern  poet  of  Germany. 

iSuphan  XXIV,  220,  (1803). 


PART  I 

CHAPTER  II 

HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH" 

For  centuries  the  epic  had  been  considered  the  most  ele- 
vated and  commanding  form  of  poetry.  The  highest  ambi- 
tion of  the  poet  was  to  become  a  German  Homer  just  as 
Virgil  had  become  a  Latin  Homer.  In  the  period  following 
Opitz,  translations  were  made  of  French  and  Italian  epic 
poetry  by  Tobias,  Hiibner,  and  Dietrich  von  dem  Werden; 
and  attempts  at  writing  an  epic,  dealing  in  large  part  with 
heroes  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  were  made  by  Johann 
Sebastian  Wieland,  Johann  Freinsheim,  Georg  Greflinger, 
and  Freiherr  von  Hohlberg.  Beginning  with  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  epic  took  the  place  of  the  earlier  prose  ro- 
mances; we  find  among  its  composers,  Christian  Heinrich 
Postel,  Johann  von  Besser,  Johann  Valentin  Pietsch,  Johann 
Ulrich  von  Konig,  Daniel  Wilhelm  Triller,  Ludwig  Fried- 
rich  Hudemann,  Franz  Christoph  von  Scheyb,  and  Karl 
Gustav  Heraus.  Bodmer  made  an  outline  for  his  "Noah" 
in  1742.  In  imitation  of  Boileau  and  Pope  the  burlesque 
epic  also  found  its  exponents  in  Germany  in  Zacharia  and 
Uz.  The  epic  had  secured  its  noblest  expression,  however, 
outside  Germany,  in  England  and  France  ("Paradise  Lost" 
and  the  "Henriade")  ;  the  English  poem  was  to  be  a  source 
of  inspiration  for  the  greatest  of  the  modern  German  epics. 
When  Klopstock,  therefore,  attempted  to  write  a  German 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  19 

epic,  he  was  not  treading  upon  new  territory,  as  far  as  the 
literary  form  was  concerned. 

It  is  notable  that  when  the  first  three  songs  of  Klopstock's 
"Messiah"  appeared  in  the  "Bremer  Beitrage",  early  in 
1748,  Germany  was  not  prepared  to  receive  a  work  of  such 
high  merit.  The  public  taste  was  not  sufficiently  developed 
to  comprehend  and  appreciate  the  lofty  flight  of  Klopstock's 
genius.1  Among  the  Swiss  school  of  critics,  however,  it 
aroused  the  greatest  interest  and  enthusiasm.  The  work, 
which  was  ultimately  to  bring  about  the  downfall  of  their 
literary  opponents  in  Leipzig,  immediately  became  an  object 
of  adoration  for  its  Swiss  admirers.  They  recognized  in  it 
the  perfect  application  of  the  new  theories  which  they  had 
brought  forth,  and  greeted  the  young  poet  with  the  most  ex- 
travagant enthusiasm.  Klopstock  is  hailed  as  a  poet  on  whom 
the  spirit  of  Milton  rests;2  he  is  thought,  even,  to  surpass 
Milton,  and  is  considered  greater  than  Virgil  and  Homer.3 
To  compare  him  with  Virgil  would  be  like  comparing  Newton 
with  Euclid.4  Klopstock's  poetry  is  proclaimed  not  merely 
a  novel  and  unprecedented  addition  to  German  literature, 
but  indicative  of  a  hitherto  undreamed-of  scope  of  German 
genius.5  The  "Messiah"  is  acclaimed  as  great  a  hero  as 
Achilles  and  Ulysses;6  the  poem  is  called  the  sixth  epic  of 

1  Bodmer  to  Gleim,  Sept.  11,  1748;  Gessner  to  Gleim,  Jan.  24, 
1755 ;  Sulzer  to  Bodmer,  Nov.  19,  Dec.  24,  1774— Wm.  Korte,  pp.  95, 
228,  416,  423.  Herder  to  Gleim,  Feb.  20,  1767— Lebensbild  1,  2.  See 
also  D.  F.  Strauss,  Vol.  10,  pp.  51-59,  for  the  effects  of  the  "Messiah". 

2  Bodmer  to  Gleim,  Sept.  12,  1747— Wm.  Korte,  p.  66. 

3  C.  F.  Meier  in  "Beurtheilung  des  Messiahs",  1749 — Hamel. 
Lessing's  "Verhaltnis  zu  Klopstock" — Muncker,  p.  25. 

4  Sulzer  to  Bodmer,  Jan.  8,   1749— Korte,  p.  95. 

5Kleist  to  Gleim,  June  10,  1748— Hamel.  Sulzer  to  Bodmer, 
Jan.  8,  1748— Korte,  p.  103.  Bodmer  to  Gleim,  Sept.  11,  1748— 
Korte,  p.  95. 

6  Bodmer  to  Gleim,   Sept.   11,   1748— Korte,  p.  95. 


20  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

the  world,  ranking  with  Homer,  Virgil,  Milton,  Tasso,  and 
Voltaire.1  With  Klopstock  the  Golden  Age  of  German 
literature  is  believed  to  have  dawned;2  German  poetry  has 
come  into  her  own,  and  is  able  to  vie  with  the  great  litera- 
tures of  other  nations.3  So  chorused  the  Swiss  critics  and 
their  followers,  and  an  interest  was  soon  taken  in  the  poet 
himself.  Many  ardently  desired  an  opportunity  to  meet 
him  and  form  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  him,  even  to 
become  his  friend.4  His  greatest  admirers  began  to  be  con- 
cerned about  his  physical  comforts  and  welfare  ;5  some  con- 
fessed a  fear  of  his  possible  death  before  having  completed 
his  great  work.  Indeed,  until  the  king  of  Denmark  so 
generously  provided  for  him,  proposals  were  constantly 
made  of  plans  by  which  Klopstock's  merits  might  gain 
material  recognition.6 

Various  criticisms  appeared  during  the  first  year  after 
the  publication  of  the  "Messiah",  all  filled  with  enthusiastic 
admiration  for  the  new  work;  but  none  showed  a  true 
appreciation  of  it  as  a  piece  of  poetry,  or  pointed  out  its 
significance  for  German  literature.  The  merits  of  Klop- 
stock's  poem,  indeed,  were  recognized  by  those  who  possessed 
a  genuine  taste  for  poetry  from  the  very  beginning ;  but  his 
genius  had  soared  high  above  the  minds  of  most  readers 
and  critics,  and  a  genuine  conception  of  his  originality,  and 
a  critical  estimate  of  it,  did  not  appear  till  later.  Bodmer 
championed  the  cause  of  the  poet  and  did  most  to  accelerate 

*Lange  in  "Der  Gesellige",  Feb.   15,   1749— Hamel. 

2  Bodmer  to  Lange,  Easter,  1748 — Korte,  p.  84. 

3Wieland  to  Bodmer,  Oct.  29,  1751 — "Lessing's  Verhaltnis  zu 
K."  p.  26. 

4  "Lessings  Verhaltnis  zu  Klopstock",  p.  27. 

5"Lessings  Verhaltnis  zu  Klopstock",  p.  27.  "Klopstock" — 
Muncker,  p.  148. 

e  Bodmer  to  Gleim,  Sept.  11,  1748;  Sulzer  to  Bodmer,  Sept.  27, 
1749,  and  April  21,   1750— Korte,  pp.  95,   112,   131. 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  21 

the  celebrity  of  the  poem  in  Germany.  He  had  published 
an  article  in  the  "Freimutige  Nachrichten",  in  September, 
1748,  and  had  inspired  some  of  the  articles  in  other  maga- 
zines j1  now  he  caused  C.  F.  Meier  to  write  a  more  complete 
criticism,  "Beurtheilung  des  Heldengedichts  der  Messias" 
(Halle,  1749).  This  was  not  an  aesthetic  appreciation  of 
the  poem,  but  a  panegyric  which  ran  riot  with  criticism  and 
showed  little  genuine  taste  for  poetry.2  It  served  its  pur- 
pose, however;  a  universal  interest  in  the  "Messiah"  was 
aroused,  and  friends  were  won  for  Klopstock  throughout 
Germany.  It  gave  rise  to  a  wealth  of  literature  dealing 
with  the  poem,  and  criticism  after  criticism  appeared,  not 
only  in  Switzerland,  but  in  Germany  itself.  Inspired  by 
such  men  as  Bodmer,  Hagedorn,  and  Wieland,  minor  critics 
like  Hess,  Lange,  Reichel,  Paulli,  and  Buschung  were  un- 
bounded in  their  enthusiasm;  in  their  wild  praise  they  lost 
sight  of  what  true  criticism  means.  Haller,  Spalding,  Ram- 
ler,  Sulzer,  and  Schroker  were  more  restrained  in  their  great 
admiration  for  Klopstock,  and  did  not  fear  to  utter  serious 
comments.  They  saw  the  danger  of  over-praise,  and 
realized  that  blind  enthusiasm  would  work  evils  for  the 
poet.3  Tscharner's  and  Waser's  criticisms  of  the  "Mes- 
siah" came  closer  to  being  real,  impartial,  scientific  discus- 
sions, in  which  praise  did  not  swallow  up  blame,  than  any 
which  appeared  before  Lessing's  articles  in  175 1.4 

In  two  years  after  the  publication  of  Meier's  criticism 
(1749),  Klopstock  was  known  throughout  Germany.  His 
name  was  honored,  respected,  and  praised  by  the  adherents 
of  the  Swiss  School;  it  was  despised,  scorned,  and  con- 

1  Bodmer  to  Gleim,  Sept.  11,  1748— Korte,  p.  95. 

2  "Klopstock"— Muncker,  p.  145. 

3  Sulzer  to  Bodmer,  Jan.  8,  1749;  Sept.  27,  1749— Korte,  pp.  103, 
111,  120. 

4  "Klopstock"— Muncker,  p.  151. 


22  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

demned  by  their  rivals,  the  followers  of  the  Leipzig  school. 
The  "Messiah"  became  the  battle-ground  for  the  two  par- 
ties. Up  to  1751  Gottsched  and  his  pupils  remained  quiet 
and  did  not  make  an  open  attack  upon  Klopstock;  hoping, 
probably,  that  the  wild  fire  of  enthusiasm  would  burn  itself 
out.  They  contented  themselves  with  turning  their  wrath 
upon  Kleist's  "Fruhling"  (1749),  thus  striking  an  indirect 
blow  at  Klopstock.  But  in  1751  Gottsched  himself  began 
to  attack  the  new  poetry;  at  first  carefully  avoiding  the 
mention  of  names  and  basing  his  assault  upon  principles 
alone.  Satires  and  parodies  of  the  "Messiah"  and  of  the 
new  poetic  language  appeared  by  Triller,  Stockhausen,  and 
Borner.  Johann  Heinrich  Stuss,  in  his  support  of  the  Ger- 
man hexameter,  and  in  his  recalling  the  fact  that  Gottsched 
himself  had,  as  early  as  1730,  recommended  blank  verse, 
aroused  Gottsched's  ire.  The  Leipzig  critic  published  his 
own  attack  upon  Klopstock's  meter  and  the  use  of  Biblical 
subjects  for  an  epic  in  January  and  March,  1752.  Rather 
than  a  genuine  criticism,  it  was  an  attempt  to  ridicule.  One 
of  the  members  of  the  Leipzig  school,  Schonaich,  was  even 
bold  enough  to  publish  his  epic,  "Hermann  oder  das  bef  reite 
Deutschland",  in  1751,  and  hoped  to  have  it  rank  with 
Klopstock's  poem.  Instead  he  helped  thereby  to  hasten  the 
down-fall  of  Gottsched's  theories.  The  authors  of  the 
"Bremer  Beitrage",  together  with  Dommerich  and  Stuss, 
replied  to  the  attacks  made  by  the  Gottsched  party  and 
upheld  the  new  school. 

No  impartial,  individual,  genuinely  critical  examination  of 
Klopstock's  work  had  been  made  till  Lessing's  criticism 
appeared  in  his  monthly,  "Das  Neueste  aus  dem  Reiche  des 
Witzes",  during  1751.  Lessing  rises  above  party  feeling; 
he  scoffs  at  Gottsched  and  his  followers,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  distinguishes  Klopstock  very  carefully   from  his 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  23 

imitators,  and  recognizes  the  unreasonableness  of  his  pane- 
gyrists. He  blames  and  ridicules  them  quite  as  much  as  he 
does  the  Gottschedians,  only  with  more  leniency.  He  treats 
Klopstock  always  with  respect  and  admiration;  in  him  he 
sees  Germany's  greatest  genius.1  He  admires  the  "Mes- 
siah" as  an  immortal  song  by  which  the  German  tongue  first 
penetrated  into  heaven,  and  which  he  cannot  but  envy  the 
author.2  By  it,  he  believes,  Germany  has  proved  that  she 
possesses  creative  geniuses.3  It  is  by  contrasting  with  them 
the  high  dignity  of  Klopstock's  poetry  that  he  points  his 
condemnation  of  the  poetic  labors  of  the  Leipzig  school.4 
Yet,  in  contrast  to  this  general  praise,  Lessing  published  a 
sharp  analysis  of  the  sixteen  beginning  verses  of  the  poem 
in  "Das  Neueste",  of  September,  1751,  which  was  repub- 
lished and  enlarged  in  the  "Briefe  aus  dem  Zweiten  Teile 
der  Schriften",  in  1753.  With  the  penetrating  eye  of  the 
critic,  he  attempts  to  analyze  minutely  Klopstock's  verse, 
applying  the  principles  of  logic  to  the  language  of  the  heart. 
Indeed,  Lessing  undoubtedly  went  too  far  in  his  application 
of  reason  to  poetry;  yet  in  this  he  was  moved  by  motives 
of  the  utmost  sincerity.  He  differed  from  Klopstock  both 
in  his  character  and  temperament.  He  was  not  a  born  lyric 
poet ;  reason  occupied  a  higher  place  in  his  life  than  feeling, 
and  great  emotional  flights  of  poetry  were  utterly  beyond 
him.  In  the  same  way  the  mystic  coloring  of  the  "Messiah" 
did  not  appeal  to  him,  for  his  religious  experiences  and 
convictions  differed  entirely  from  those  of  the  poet  of  this 
epic.     Lessing  was  incapable  of  placing  himself  in  full  sym- 

1  Lachmann  III,  209. 

2  Lachmann  I,  194. 

3Vossische  Zeitung,   Mar.  27,   1751, — quoted  in   "Lessings  Ver- 
haltnis  zu   Klopstock",   p.   75. 

4  Lachmann  III,  pp.  206,  250,  251. 


24  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

pathy  with  the  author,  and  drawing  from  the  "Messiah" 
the  best  that  was  in  it.1 

Patzke,  Moses  Mendelssohn,  and  Nicolai  were  attracted 
to  Lessing's  position  above  party  quarrels.  Nicolai's  pub- 
lication, in  1755,  of  "Briefe  iiber  den  itzigen  Zustand  der 
schonen  Wissenschaften  in  Deutschland,"  sounded  the  close 
of  the  battle  between  the  Zurich  and  Leipzig  schools.  After 
this,  Volquarts,  Hudemann,  and  Schonaich  ("Die  ganze 
Aesthetik  in  einer  Nuss  oder  Neologisches  Worterbuch", 
1754)  were  unable  to  have  much  effect;  but  the  supporters 
of  the  "Messiah"  lifted  their  voices  in  defences  and  refuta- 
tions with  just  as  little  avail.  The  quarrel  lasted  a  few  years 
longer  with  Schonaich  and  Reichel  as  champions  for  the 
Gottschedians ;  but  from  1755  onward  it  gradually  died  out.2 

During  all  this  storm  of  controversy,  in  spite  of  over- 
praise and  blame,  Klopstock's  poem  was  read  with  the 
warmest  admiration  by  those  who  possessed  a  genuine  taste 
for  poetry.  Klopstock  himself,  his  mind  and  heart  en- 
grossed with  sublime  and  original  ideas,  engaged  in  none 
of  the  disputes,  and  suffered  friends  and  enemies  to  write 
as  they  pleased.  Among  those  who  relished  the  beauty  and 
sentiment  of  the  great  poem  was  young  Herder.  He 
probably  first  read  the  "Messiah"  in  Trescho's  library  during 
the  years  1760  to  1762.3  Undoubtedly  the  sacredness  of 
the  subject  and  the  religious  tone  of  the  work  appealed  to 
him  as  much  as  its  lyrical  qualities  and  the  beauty  of  its 
poetry.     Herder's  love  for  poetry  had  been  aroused  in  his 

1  In  "Litteratur  Briefe",  number  19,  Lessing  takes  up  the  "Mes- 
siah" (the  first  and  second  volumes  had  appeared  in  1755  with  the 
first  ten  songs)  and  discusses  the  changes  the  first  five  songs  had 
undergone  since  the  edition  of  1751.  Regarding  these  he  says : 
"Changes  and  corrections  which  a  poet  like  Klopstock  makes  in 
his  works  deserve  not  alone  to  be  noted,  but  also  to  be  studied  most 
carefully.  In  them  one  studies  the  finest  rules  of  art;  for  whatever 
the  masters  of  art  consider  worthy  of  attention  is  rule". 

2  "Klopstock"— Muncker,   p.    180. 
3Haym  I,  14. 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  25 

early  youth  by  constant  reading  of  the  Bible  and  the  hym- 
nal, and  now  in  the  "Messiah"  he  found  the  same  religious, 
musical,  and  poetic  qualities  which  these  two  books  possess. 
Herder's  nature  was  as  harmoniously  responsive  to  Klop- 
stock's  as  Lessing's  had  been  ill-keyed ;  he  was  a  born  poet, 
even  if  his  innate  lyricism  never  found  an  adequate  expres- 
sion. His  religious  experiences,  too,  were  similar  to  those 
of  Klopstock.  If  anyone  was  able  to  bring  to  a  criticism 
of  the  German  poet  an  appreciative  and  sympathetic  touch, 
which  could  comprehend  fully  the  greatness  of  his  poetry, 
it  was  Herder. 

While  in  the  city  of  Riga  he  read  the  "Messiah"  aloud 
to  his  friends,  and  was  always  happy  to  receive  new  manu- 
script copies  of  the  parts  which  had  not  yet  appeared  in 
print.1  Here,  also,  he  wrote  his  first  criticism  of  the  poem, 
which  appeared  in  1767.  He  considers  the  poem  the  "most 
sublime  Oriental-German  work,"  and  would  scrutinize  it 
carefully ;  he  believes  "the  great  piece"  has  not  yet  received 
as  thorough  an  examination  as  it  deserves.2  Some  had  not 
wished  to  criticize  it,  he  says,  because  it  was  incomplete;3 
but  Herder  has  no  sympathy  with  this  attitude;  he  believes 
he  can  judge  the  spirit  of  a  fragment  and  its  poetic  quality 
as  well  as  he  can  that  of  a  finished  product,  without  neces- 
sarily having  to  foresee  the  end  of  the  work  or  being  unjust 
to  the  author.  Nay,  the  beginning  of  a  product,  he  affirms, 
should  be  judged  even  more  particularly  than  a  completed 
work,  as  an  aid  to  the  author  in  his  endeavors ;  by  having 

1  Erinnnerungen  I,  114.  See  Lappenberg,  p.  241 — Herder  to 
Klopstock,  Dec.  5,  1799.  Herder  writes  his  friend  that  he  possesses 
all  editions  of  the  "Messiah"  but  one  (probably  one  of  the  editions 
of  1780),  and  this  one  he  requests  Klopstock  to  send  him. 

2  Herder  to  Scheffner,  1766.  Herder  expresses  dissatisfaction 
with  the  criticism  of  the  "Litteratur  Briefe".  Lebensbild  1,  2, 
p.  146. 

3  See  Lessing,  "Litteratur  Brief"  15. 


26  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

his  first  deliverances  criticized  sincerely,  an  author  can  cor- 
rect his  mistakes  and  avoid  future  pitfalls.  'In  Klopstock's 
case,  if  the  poet  had  found  a  critical  friend  at  the  very 
beginning  instead  of  a  trumpeting  eulogist  (and  here  Herder 
undoubtedly  has  Bodmer  in  mind)  ;  if  he  had  not  received 
such  blind  applause  and  had  not  seen  even  more  blind  imi- 
tation of  his  poem,  probably  a  good  deal  in  his  excellent 
work  would  be  even  more  excellent  than  it  is.'  But  such, 
Herder  believes,  is  always  the  case.  Critics  are  always 
found  in  plenty  to  criticize  the  attempts  of  mediocre  writers ; 
to  pass  judgment  upon  the  works  of  novices  and  ap- 
prentices ;  but  if  a  genius  appear,  like  Pallas  from  the  head 
of  Jupiter,  heaven  and  earth  resound  with  their  mighty  cries 
of  adoration.  Herder  realizes,  as  others  had  done  before 
him,1  that  the  Swiss  critics  had  gone  too  far  in  their  wild, 
unrestrained  enthusiasm,  and  had  not  benefited  Klopstock 
in  their  exaggerated  eulogies.  Almost  twenty  years  later,  in 
the  twentieth  of  the  "Theologische  Briefe"  (1780-85),  he 
expresses  his  disgust  for  the  "Klopstockianer."  He  says, 
Klopstock's  disciples  demand  that  their  master  should  only 
be  looked  upon  with  awe;  should  only  be  marvelled  at; 
but  this  is  hard  work  for  him,  "even  harder  than  sawing 
closely-grained  timber  with  one's  head  erect  and  eternally 
gazing  upward".  One  of  the  poet's  disciples  had  said  that 
there  had  been  two  great  days  for  the  salvation  of  the  world, 
one  on  which  it  had  been  delivered  through  Christ,  and  one 
on  which  it  had  been  sung  about  by  Klopstock.  A  second 
added  the  crown  of  thorns  which  both  Christ  and  Klop- 
stock had  worn  for  the  same  cause  (both  suffered  for 
humanity).  But  Herder  would  not  put  his  hand  upon  this 
wreath,  nor  add  to  the  laurels  which  the  poet  already  wore. 
Of  what  use  is  it  to  compare  Klopstock's  poem  with  history, 

iKorte,  p.   120— Sulzer  to  Bodmer,   1749. 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  27 

Herder  says;  to  compare  the  poet  with  the  Evangelists, 
since  one  of  his  pupils  said,  Klopstock  has  improved  the 
Evangelists  and  Christ  himself.1 

Herder  presents  his  first  criticism  of  the  "Messiah"  in 
the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  a  Jewish  rabbi  and  a  Chris- 
tian; one,  the  representative  of  the  Old  Testament  religion, 
of  Oriental  traditions  and  imagination ;  the  other,  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  newer  religion,  of  European  history  and 
literature.  In  these  two  personages  Herder  represents 
Klopstock's  three  sources,  the  Bible,  Homer,  and  Milton. 
He  emphasizes  the  fact  that  the  poet  of  the  "Messiah" 
has  succeeded  in  composing  an  epic  without  the  use  of 
Greek  mythology;  insofar  he  has  had  the  courage  and 
power  to  break  away  from  the  classical  model  of  all  epics ; 
he  has  struck  out  a  new  path  in  the  composition  of  the  epic, 
and  has  thus  passed  beyond  the  great  Milton.  'Klopstock 
has  composed  an  original  work  in  spite  of  certain  Miltonic 
features;  he  shows  his  great  genius  in  having  been  able 
to  produce  a  poem,  an  epic,  and  a  Christian  epic,  out  of  a 
short  historical  account/  But  has  he  succeeded  in  produc- 
ing a  really  genuine  national  poem?  Herder  strikes  the  key- 
note of  his  criticism,  and  at  the  same  time  the  one  great 
fault  of  the  "Messiah",  in  the  sentence,  "Everything,  every- 
thing, is  beautiful  in  parts  in  Klopstock,  very  beautiful,  only 
in  the  whole  there  is  lacking  the  real  epic  spirit."  The 
poem  lacks  national  spirit.  If  it  was  intended  to  be  a 
Biblical  epic,  an  epic  of  the  Orient,  Klopstock  should  have 
made  more  use  of  Biblical  history;  he  should  have  intro- 
duced some  features  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  scene  of 
his  epic  is  not  really  Jewish ;  the  whole  work  should  breath 
more  of  the  national  spirit  and  temper  of  the  Jews.  Klop- 
stock should  have  concerned  himself  more  with  the  national 

iSuphan  X,  228,   (1780-85). 


28  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

opinions  of  the  Jews,  the  poetic  import  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  with  the  taste  of  those  times.  The  "Messiah" 
is  not  a  Biblical  epic;  it  is  not  a  full,  objective  expression 
of  the  national  life  of  the  times  of  Christ.  If  Klopstock 
intended  his  poem  to  be  a  song  of  the  origin  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  it  would  have  been  necessary  for  him  to  em- 
phasize the  founding  of  the  Church  with  all  its  vicissitudes ; 
he  would  have  had  to  bear  in  mind  the  historical  events 
which  took  place  at  that  time.  The  poem  lacks  historical 
background.' 

'Nor  has  Klopstock  succeeded/  affirms  Herder,  'in  making 
his  hero  the  real  subject  of  a  tragic  epic.  His  crucifixion 
is  not  sufficiently  motivated.  The  Messiah  possesses  too 
much  of  the  sublime,  prophetic  spirit  and  does  not  appear 
human  enough ;  he  does  not  accomplish  enough  through  the 
ordinary  course  of  human  strife  and  endeavor.  If  he  had 
wandered  about  in  all  the  splendor  which  Klopstock  gives 
him,  he  could  not  have  aroused  the  bitter  hatred  of  his 
enemies.  Inasmuch  as  whatever  Jesus  has  done  to  stir  up 
their  hatred  is  related  and  is  not  a  natural  result  of  some- 
thing we  see  him  do,  we  have  effect  without  cause.  There 
is  too  much  frame-work,  and  too  little  structure ;  too  much 
is  related,  and  too  little  acted  out.  As  creator  of  his  own 
work,  Klopstock  should  have  made  the  Messiah  more  vivid- 
ly real ;  in  failing  to  do  this  he  has  fallen  short  of  the  Bible, 
for  the  Biblical  Messiah  is  more  human.  Klopstock  depicts 
him  either  as  superhuman,  or  with  a  gentle,  yielding  heart, 
one  which  speaks  and  suffers  but  does  not  act.  Unless  one 
had  read  the  Gospels  first,  a  perusal  of  the  poem  would 
leave  one  wholly  ignorant  of  the  genuine  grandeur  of  Christ. 
The  prophets,  too,  Klopstock  should  not  have  represented 
as  gentle,  loving  youths,  but  he  should  have  given  them 
human   weaknesses,    and   at  the   same   time   have   shown 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  29 

through  their  actions  the  possibility  for  future  greatness  in 
them  as  pillars  of  the  Church/ 

'In  presenting  superhuman  beings/  continues  Herder, 
'Klopstock  again  fails  to  make  them  live,  active  beings  with 
human  qualities.  The  angels  are  not  made  an  integral  part 
of  the  poem;  they  are  machines  which  their  poetic  creator 
does  not  know  how  to  use.  They  possess  little  of  the  great- 
ness (das  Hohe)  of  those  in  the  Old  Testament;  Klopstock 
forgets  the  external  in  his  emphasis  upon  the  internal.  The 
poet's  devils,  also,  lack  the  really  human  element;  they  are 
pure  spirits  whose  malicious  deeds  against  a  God,  whom 
they  know  too  well,  and  against  a  Messiah,  whom  they 
know  too  little,  are  not  fully  motivated.  They  act  out  of 
a  principle  of  envy,  rather  than  from  an  inner  impulse. 
Everything  for  which  the  poet  uses  the  devils  he  could  have 
developed  out  of  the  human  soul.  The  devil  ought  to  be 
more  a  devil  of  this  world,  the  lord  of  the  elements,  with 
power  over  death  and  misfortune;  he  would  then  be  a 
worthy  adversary  for  Jesus  to  overthrow  in  the  end/ 

'But  the  beauties  of  the  poem/  Herder  is  convinced,  'far 
outshine  the  faults  and  even  cause  them  to  disappear.  When 
one  reads  the  work  one  very  rarely  finds  anything  to  crit- 
icize adversely;  one  enjoys  it;  one  enters  intensely  into  its 
essence  and  meaning.  The  poet  is  best  in  the  subjective, 
lyrical  parts/  (where  he  can  exercise  the  wonderful  powers 
of  his  genius  to  the  greatest  advantage).  'Nowhere  is 
Klopstock  greater  than  when  he,  as  one  who  knows  the 
human  heart,  succeeds  in  bringing  up  out  of  the  depths  of 
the  soul  a  storm  of  thoughts  and  emotions,  and  permits  this 
storm  "to  roar  up  to  heaven" ;  when  he  stirs  up  an  eddy  of 
doubts,  griefs,  and  fears,  as  in  his  Philo,  his  despairing 
Ischariot,  his  Peter,  and  especially  in  that  great  creation 
of  his  imagination,  Abbadonna.     In  the  tender  scenes  one 


30  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

always  sees  Klopstock  describing  his  own  heart — in  Benoni 
and  Lazarus,  in  Cidli  and  Maria,  in  Portia,  Mir  jam,  and 
Debora'. 

'Klopstock  often  emphasizes  the  sublime  and  the  moral,' 
says  Herder,  'at  the  expense  of  the  epic;  insofar  he  is  the 
son  of  his  time/  He  has,  therefore,  not  succeeded  in  writ- 
ing a  true  epic;  his  poem  is  not  an  impersonal  expression 
of  national  life  and  spirit;  a  natural  product  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  whole  people.  But  the  greatness  of  his  work 
Herder  recognizes,  even  as  early  as  1767,  to  lie  in  that  very 
personal  and  human  element  which  Klopstock's  genius 
breathes  into  it.  It  is  the  thought  and  the  spirit  lying  back 
of  the  form  which  the  critic  feels  makes  the  "Messiah"  a 
real  masterpiece ;  and  when  it  is  completed,  "perfection  and 
beauty  itself  will  have  been  born."1  The  effect  of  the  great 
poem  upon  the  people  of  Germany,  both  high  and  low, 
educated  and  ignorant,  proves  the  truth  of  Herder's  crit- 
icism. 

What  Herder  puts  into  the  mouths  of  the  Christian  and 
the  Jew,  he  writes  again  to  Caroline,  in  1770.  He  is  re- 
reading the  "Messiah"  and  enjoys  the  delicate  lyrical  quali- 
ties of  the  poem,  but  again  misses  the  human  activity,  the 
live  action  and  character,  which  makes  the  real  epic  poem.2 

Herder  opposes  Lessing's  and  Winckelmann's  exaggerated 
enthusiasm  for  all  that  is  Greek.  Classicism  and  humanity 
were  not  one  and  indivisible  for  him,  but  humanity  was 
always  the  broader,  and  its  spirit  was  not  limited  to  any  one 
age.3  He  was  loath  to  consider  Homer  a  standard  poet  of 
all  times  and  all  peoples;  on  the  contrary,  he  would  judge 
him    according  to   his    nature    and    his    age.4     Hence    he 

iSuphan  I,  pp.  275  ff.,    (1767). 

2Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  138. 

3  Suphan  I,  Kritisches  Waldchen. 

*Suphan  I,  Kritisches  Waldchen,  IV,  423,   (1769). 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  31 

despised  the  erection  of  immutably  accepted  models  for  the 
works  of  art  of  all  time  and  all  people;  he  despised  imita- 
tion. He  is  far  from  seeking  Homer,  as  the  great  epic  poet, 
reflected  in  Klopstock's  work,  for  Klopstock,  he  says,  must 
be  appreciated  as  a  modern  poet  and  not  as  a  Greek.1 
Klopstock  is  a  religious  poet,  and  whatever  moves  his 
readers  is  truth;  human  and  Biblical  truth,  coming  from 
his  own  experiences,  and  that  will  remain  immortal.2  Klop- 
stock sang  his  "immortal  song"  in  the  spirit  of  the  religion 
of  his  time,  according  to  his  thoughts  and  the  impressions 
of  his  heart  ;3  he  sang  as  he  felt,  and  presented  the  visions 
his  imagination  saw.4  The  "Messiah"  is  a  production  of 
Klopstock's  own  self.  He  must  be  read  with  a  full  under- 
standing of  his  nature,  his  culture,  his  ideas ;  he  who  would 
grasp  him  most  fully  must  be  one  heart,  one  soul  with  the 
poet,  stepping  into  his  place,  and  seeing  and  feeling  with 
him.  He  who  cannot  do  this  will  think  the  epic  Talmudic, 
or  Arabian,  or  see  other  elements  in  it ;  he  will  see  only  one 
particular  thing ;  will  not  be  able  to  get  beyond  his  own  men- 
tal horizon  and  his  own  narrow  world/5 

Herder  thinks  of  Homer,  and  proposes  the  question 
whether  Klopstock  intended  to  be  a  German  Homer. 
'According  to  his  essay  on  sacred  poetry  the  poet  seems  to 
think  more  of  Virgil ;  and  he  is  rather  more  Virgilian  than 
Homeric.  Perhaps  he,  as  a  sacred  Virgil,  sings  of  the 
Orient,  and  perhaps  it  is  just  this  Virgilian  element  which 
charms  us  most  in  his  poem.  But  Homer !'  When  Herder 
reads  the  table  of  contents  of  the  songs  he  thinks  of  the 
element  of  the  marvelous  in  them  which  relates  them  to 

iSuphan  III,  233,   (1769). 

2Nachlass  II,  205.    Herder  to  Lavater,  Nov.  3,   1780 

sSuphan  III,  233,   (1769). 

4Suphan  IX,  499,   (1776). 

sSuphan  III,  233,   (1769). 


32  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Homer;  when  he  reads  the  synopses  of  the  chapters  he 
still  is  reminded  of  the  rhapsodist;  but  when  he  reads  the 
poem  itself  he  no  longer  thinks  of  the  Greek  poet.  The 
great  wealth  of  words,  of  beautiful  language,  of  description, 
of  figures  of  speech,  all  carries  him  away,  so  that  he  finds 
no  temptation  to  seek  the  ancient  singer  in  him, — 'Homer, 
who  was  poor  in  words  and  rich  in  action;  who  did  not 
describe  his  ideas,  but  clothed  them  about  with  live  bodies 
which  beam  forth  with  the  light  of  dawn.  Homer  was 
objective;  Klopstock  is  subjective.  But  perhaps  it  is  the 
highest  honor  for  the  German  poet  not  to  have  made  use  of 
a  single  Homeric  picture;  perhaps  it  is  more  conformable 
to  his  time  that  he  paints  his  pictures  so  that  they  enter 
into  one's  soul,  just  as  the  sentient  Greeks  enjoyed  their 
sentient  Homer;  perhaps  the  moral  element  in  Klopstock  is 
greater  than  all  the  beautiful  sentience  in  Homer;  perhaps 
his  great  talent  in  depicting  the  human  soul  is  worth  more 
than  everything  contained  in  the  Greek  singer.'  Herder  is 
hereupon  moved  to  quote  from  the  "Litteratur  Brief e" : 
"Homer  was  understood  just  as  little  by  all  the  Greeks  as 
Klopstock  by  all  the  Germans.  The  genuine  critics  of  poet- 
ry are  at  all  times  and  in  all  lands  as  rare  as  the  poets  them- 
selves have  been  I"1 

In  1769  Herder  compares  Milton  and  Klopstock  with  the 
ancients.  Tn  wisdom,  power,  majesty,  in  everything  great 
and  at  the  same  time  incomprehensible  in  the  Divinity,  the 
poets  of  the  Orient  are  a  rich,  inexhaustible  source.  In 
such  pictures  a  Silius  Italicus,  Ovid,  Virgil,  and  Claudian 
compared  with  a  Job,  Moses,  Jesaias,  and  David  are  like  a 
drop  of  water  compared  with  the  ocean ;  and  it  is  a  pity  to 
lick  a  drop  when  a  chasm  of  greatness,  sublimity,  and 
majesty  is  before  us.     Only  a  critical  soul,  devoid  of  emo- 

iSuphan  I,  296,   (1767). 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  33 

tion,  would  place  Milton  and  Klopstock  behind  a  Silius 
Italicus  and  Claudian ;  would  hold  up  the  purple  patches  of 
an  Ovid  and  Silius  as  rarities,  as  precious  models,  before  the 
spiritual  poets  of  the  Christian  religion;  and  would  not  see 
the  sunny  sea  of  majesty,  the  rain-bow  of  splendid  colors, 
in  which  the  sacred  books  and  their  great  imitators  had 
painted  the  omnipotence  and  power  of  God.  Klopstock  has 
surpassed  Silius  Italicus  in  his  reflection  of  Oriental  ma- 
jesty/1 Many  years  later,  in  1796,  Herder  again  compares 
Milton  and  Klopstock.  He  says  that  one  is  accustomed  tc 
call  Klopstock  the  German  Milton,  but  he  wishes  that  they 
were  never  mentioned  together,  and  even  that  the  German 
poet  had  never  known  the  English  bard.  'Both  poets  wrote 
sacred  poems,  but  their  muses  are  different.  They  are  like 
Moses  and  Christ;  like  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 
Milton's  poem  is  a  reflective  structure  resting  on  old  pillars ; 
Klopstock's  poem  is  a  magic  picture  which  has  its  begin- 
ning in  Gethsemane,  and  in  the  most  delicate  human  emo- 
tions and  scenes  hovers  out  over  earth  and  heaven.  Milton's 
muse  is  as  masculine  as  his  iambic  verse ;  Klopstock's  muse 
is  a  more  delicate  one,  whose  elegies  and  hymns  stream 
through  our  whole  soul,  its  single  objective.'2  Milton's 
poem  is  probably  a  truer  epic,  if  one  takes  the  Greek  epic 
as  a  model ;  but  this  is  only  a  question  of  form.  Considering 
what  true  poetry  is,  and  what  its  effect  on  the  human  soul 
should  be,  Herder  places  the  German  poem  above  Milton's 
"Paradise  Lost". 

Herder  does  not  agree  with  Klotz  that  the  unholy  should 
not  be  blended  with  the  holy;  for  in  that  case  the  heathen 
characters  in  the  "Messiah"  would  have  to  be  eliminated. 
The  scenes  of  the  prayer  of  the  heathen  woman,  Portia, 

iSuphan  III,  248,   (1769). 
2Suphan  XVIII,  118,   (1796). 


34  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

("Messiah",  Book  Six),  and  the  account  of  her  dream  of 
Socrates  move  Herder  very  much;  he  counts  them  among 
the  most  precious  in  the  poem.  He  is  convinced  that  the 
hearts  of  his  Christian  readers  will  rarely  have  reached  so 
high  a  position  in  their  adoration  of  Jesus  as  with  this 
heathen  prayer.  Herder  knows  that  Portia's  dream  "pours 
itself"  into  the  reader's  heart  more  than  many  another 
episode  of  the  "Messiah."1  Here,  as  always,  Herder  seeks 
and  has  found  the  human  touch;  this  is  more  to  him  than 
orthodoxy  or  dogmatic  religion. 

In  1773  the  last  five  songs  of  the  "Messiah"  appeared, 
and  in  the  same  year  Herder  published  a  criticism  of  the 
whole  poem.  'It  is  a  "monument  of  German  poetry  and  lan- 
guage", full  of  the  purest  emotions  and  an  imagination 
which  often  approaches  inspiration.  Klopstock  describes 
the  most  hidden  complex  feelings  of  the  human  soul,  and 
pours  them  out  into  words.  Not  the  least  of  the  merits  of 
the  poem  is  that  it  is  full  of  religion  and  song, — song  like 
the  echo  of  departed  spirits  out  of  a  valley  of  innocence  and 
love.  The  language  almost  ceases  to  be  language  and  be- 
comes music  (Ton)  !  a  resounding  of  golden  strings,  which 
sounds  forth  religion/2  It  is  the  subjective,  the  personal, 
the  lyrical  quality  of  the  poem  which  Herder  praises;  the 
expression  of  the  poet's  soul, — and  consequently  the  "Mes- 
siah" is  not  a  national  epic  like  Homer  and  Ossian.  Klop- 
stock does  not  stand  aside,  leave  out  his  personal  feelings, 
and  give  an  objective,  plastic,  picture  of  national  life  and 
spirit.  'Klopstock's  soul  soared  too  high  above  the  earth 
into  realms  beyond  human  ken;  his  hero  is  not  national  like 
Homer's  Achilles  and  Ossian's  Fingal.  The  German  nation 
has  not  yet  reached  that  point  in  its  development  in  religion 

iSuphan  III,  244,   (1769). 

2  Compare  Suphan  X,  229,  (1780-85). 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  35 

and  general  human  sympathies  to  embrace  such  a  work, 
great  for  all  time  and  place,  and  to  look  upon  it  as  its  most 
precious  possession.  In  its  plan  the  poem  is  more  a  work 
of  youth  than  of  manhood;  according  to  its  first  outline 
more  an  emulation  of  Milton  than  an  immediate  revelation. 
Christ,  especially  regarding  his  non-epic  character,  is  more  a 
Christ  of  the  Halle  school  than  the  great  Christ  of  religion. 
The  last  portion  of  the  poem  does  not  compare  favorably 
with  the  first;  the  poet  has  grown  older,  and  despite  his 
endeavor  to  remain  true  to  his  early  simplicity  his  work  has 
become  a  more  conscious  product.  Time  has  overtaken  the 
poet;  the  German  character  and  ideas  have  changed  in  the 
twenty-five  years  which  passed  since  the  first  appearance 
of  the  "Messiah".  The  views  of  religion  have  changed; 
and  neither  the  most  orthodox,  nor  the  most  pious  reader 
would  be  satisfied  with  the  poem.  The  times  demand  "a 
muse  of  more  masculine,  of  firmer,  and  more  philosophical 
form."  '*  '  "The  worthiest  poem  of  Germany"  is  not  a  na- 
tional poem,  (a  " Volksgedicht" ) ,  like  Homer  and  Ariosto. 
It  is  the  most  beautiful  marionette  of  the  world,  of  which 
whatever  regards  Biblical  history  and  true  folklore  (Volks- 
glaube)  is  but  the  wooden  stick  which  the  poet  could  not 
conceal  carefully  enough,  as  if  he  were  ashamed  of  it.  The 
diction  and  meter  are  entirely  Klopstock's  own;  that  is, 
poetic,  bold,  delicate,  learned,  and  classic ;  never,  however, 
or  only  rarely,  language  and  song  for  the  people,  no  matter 
how  high  the  people  might  climb  in  culture.'2 

In  his  criticism  of  the  "Messiah"  and  the  epic  as  a  piece 
of  literature  Herder  succeeds  in  showing  the  absurdity  of 
an  attempt  by  anyone,  at  this  time  and  age,  to  write  a  gen- 

iSuphan  V,  258ff,  (1773).  In  "Theologische  Briefe",  XIX, 
Herder  condemns  the  use  of  Biblical  history  for  epic  treatment. 
(1780-85). 

2Suphan  VIII,  430,   (1788). 


36  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

uine  epic  poem.  From  1771  onward  Herder  believes 
firmly  in  the  ballad  origin  of  the  Homeric  epics,1  a  concep- 
tion which  had  occupied  his  attention  before.  The  epic 
must  spring  spontaneously  out  of  the  heart  of  the  nation; 
it  must  be  a  natural  expression  of  national  life  and  spirit; 
must  be  of  popular  origin,  "volkstumlich".  The  truth  of 
Herder's  idea  was  proved  by  the  unsuccessful  attempts 
made  at  writing  epics  after  the  appearance  of  the  "Mes- 
siah".2 Even  Schiller  attempted  to  write  an  epic  in  his 
youth;  in  "Wilhelm  Tell"  he  had  a  most  fitting  subject  for 
epic  treatment,  but  he  made  a  drama  of  it.  Goethe,  the 
born  epic  poet,  attempted  an  epic  but  gave  it  up ;  his  success- 
ful epic,  "Hermann  und  Dorothea",  is  not  a  national  poem, 
but  a  village  idyll.  Herder  struck  a  death  blow  to  the  old 
idea  that  an  epic,  a  national  poem,  could  be  produced  by  the 
conscious  effort  of  an  individual.  Klopstock  had  aimed 
too  high;  he  had  left  the  earth  and  gone  above  the  clouds 
into  unknown  realms,  whither  few  of  his  contemporaries 
could  follow.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  recognized  that, 
by  choosing  the  most  exalted  subject,  he  had  hoped  to  reach 
the  highest  goal. 

One  of  Klopstock's  greatest  admirers  and  interpreters, 
the  poet  Schubart,  said  of  him:  "Klopstock  is  a  great  man, 
and  in  order  thoroughly  to  understand  and  to  appreciate 
him  one  must  oneself  possess  the  disposition  to  greatness." 
We  may  say  that  no  other  critic  of  the  "Messiah"  possessed 
this  appreciation  of  greatness  as  did  Herder.  While  Les- 
sing  criticized  the  "Messiah"  chiefly  from  the  point  of  view 
of  formal  aesthetics,  Herder,  in  addition  to  this,  divined  the 

1  Haym  II,  601. 

2  Epics  were  written  by  Bodmer,  Schonaich,  Wieland,  J.  E. 
Schlegel,  Kleist,  Oest,  Naumann,  Gessner,  Zacharia,  Uz,  Moser, 
Hess,  Lenz,  Lavater,  J.  F.  von  Meyer  (1800),  Ronnenberg  (1806-07), 
Pyrker  (as  late  as  the  second  and  third  decades  of  the  19th  century). 


HERDER  AND  THE  "MESSIAH"  37 

spirit  of  Klopstock's  poetry  in  the  creation  of  a  new  ideal 
of  man,  based  upon  the  belief  in  the  innate  greatness  of 
the  human  soul.  It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  influence  of 
this  ideal  in  the  subsequent  development  of  German  litera- 
ture, for  all  of  its  great  leaders,  Herder,  as  well  as  Goethe 
and  Schiller,  felt  the  spell  of  the  inspiring  power  of  Klop- 
stock's  world  of  ideas  in  their  youth.  And  it  is  because 
Herder  recognized  the  full  significance  of  the  "Messiah"  for 
the  development  of  German  culture  that,  shortly  before  his 
death,  he  summed  up  his  final  opinion  of  this  work  in  the 
words :  "Klopstock  wrote  the  first  classical  book  of  the  Ger- 
man language  since  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible."1 

iAdrastea  (1803). 


PART  I 

CHAPTER  III 
HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY 

Poetry  always  remained  one  of  Herder's  chief  interests 
in  life;  his  love  for  it  had  been  awakened,  as  we  know,  in 
his  early  youth,  when  under  his  father's  instruction  he 
learned  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  the  hymnal.  Whenever 
Herder's  own  warm,  lyrical  nature  was  deeply  moved,  even 
from  the  very  first  years  spent  in  Mohrungen,  it  gave  utter- 
ance to  its  feelings  in  poetry.  We  can  imagine  with  what 
avidity,  endowed  as  he  was  with  so  poetic  a  nature,  young 
Herder  first  read  the  works  of  prominent  German  poets 
(Opitz,  Haller,  Hagedorn,  Gellert,  Uz,  Lessing,  Creuz, 
Kleist,  Simon  Dach),  all  of  which  he  found  in  Trescho's 
library.  It  is  possible  that  he  also  became  acquainted  with 
some  of  Klopstock's  lyrical  poems,  as  well  as  with  the 
"Messiah",  at  this  time  (1760-62).  Be  that  as  it  may, 
without  doubt  he  learned  to  appreciate  fully  the  genuinely 
lyrical  qualities  of  Klopstock's  poetry  in  Koenigsberg,  where 
he  received  invaluable  instruction  and  inspiration  from 
Hamann.  Klopstock's  odes,  as  is  well  known,  had  appeared 
periodically  from  1748  onward  in  various  pamphlets,  and 
were   circulated   largely   in   manuscript   among   the   poet's 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY   39 

friends  and  admirers.  Some  of  these  poems  must  have 
found  their  way  to  Hamann,  for  we  will  remember  that  as 
early  as  1759  he  had  recognized  Klopstock's  lyrical  genius, 
and,  in  the  very  year  Herder  came  to  Koenigsberg,  termed 
the  poet  "a  great  singer  of  Germany"  and  "the  great  restorer 
of  the  lyric". 

Herder's  interest  in  poetry,  while  a  pupil  of  Hamann, 
becomes  evident  in  the  essay  on  the  ode  and  in  his  "Versuch 
einer  Geschichte  der  Dichtkunst",  written  before  his  de- 
parture for  Riga.  Burdach  affirms  that  the  young  critic 
made  use  of  Blackwell's  "Homer"  (published  in  1735)  in 
writing  these  two  works  ;*  but  even  if  Blackwell  helped  him 
to  formulate  his  ideas  concerning  the  ode,  his  moving  impulse 
had  undoubtedly  come  from  Hamann,  and  the  realization 
of  true  lyrical  poetry  in  Klopstock.  Herder's  own  intense 
musical  nature,  too,  contributed  in  no  small  degree  toward 
determining  his  conception  of  poetry.2 

In  his  essay  on  the  ode  Herder  defines  this  form  of  verse 
as  "the  first-born  child  of  the  emotions,  the  origin  of  poetry 
and  the  very  germ  of  its  life".  The  first  ode  was  a  child 
of  nature,  and  bore  the  most  intimate  relation  to  man's  emo- 
tions ;  it  was  a  "song  of  the  feelings".  As  such  it  combined, 
Herder  believes,  epic,  dramatic,  and  lyrical  qualities,  and 
hence  became  the  life  and  source  of  all  other  forms  of 
verse.  The  mother-tongue  of  the  human  race  was  poetry, 
and  the  mother-tongue  of  the  poet  is  song;  hence  poetry 
and  music  were  originally  one,  and  remained  so  until  art 
separated  them.  In  the  most  genuine  poetry,  Herder  there- 
fore affirms,  music  again  assumes  its  original  importance, 
and  the  true  genius  can  in  his  artistic  creation  once  more 
unite  poetry  and  music.3     This  is  Herder's  idea  of  genuine 

1  Deutsche  Rundschau,  vol.  142,  p.  242. 

2  Erinnerungen    III,   207. 

3  Lebensbild  I,  3,   a,  pp.  61-93. 


40  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

lyrical  verse, — an  expression  of  the  poet's  own  emotions  ex- 
pressed in  rhythmic,  melodious  language.1 

Klopstock,  as  Schiller  also  recognized,  was  truly  a  musical 
poet,  and  the  creator  of  a  new  poetic  language.2  Herder 
himself,  in  1768,  says  that,  like  Hagedorn,  Gerstenberg,  and 
Ramler  (the  last-named  in  his  cantatas),  Klopstock  did  not 
write  his  poetry,  but  sang  it.3  In  Klopstock  Herder  found 
a  poet  who  combined  music  and  language,  and  whose  work 
consequently  approached  the  merits  of  original,  genuine 
poetry.  Thus  we  can  understand  why  he  later,  in  Riga, 
chose  Klopstock's  free  meter  in  his  translation  of  some 
parts  of  Ossian.4  While  Herder  was  in  the  Baltic  city  he 
and  Hamann  kept  their  mutual  interest  in  Klopstock  alive 
through  correspondence,  and  notified  each  other  of  the  dis- 
covery of  new  odes.5 

Herder's  first  estimate  of  Klopstock's  lyrical  powers 
appeared  in  scattered  remarks  in  the  "Fragmente"  of  1767 
and  1768.  In  this  criticism  he  keeps  constantly  before  us 
his  conception  of  lyrical  poetry, — the  simple,  natural  ex- 
pression of  the  human  emotions,  unhampered  by  classical 
rule  and  convention,  in  which  words,  thought,  and  feeling 
become  a  perfect  unit  in  harmonious  rhythm.  He  says  that, 
before  Klopstock  and  Ramler  appeared,  the  best  writer  of 
odes  in  Germany  was  Cramer,  but  that  his  poetry  was 
often  nothing  but  tinkling  rhyme  (Geklingel  von  Reimen).6 

1  Erinnerungen   III,  207. 

2  Deutsche  Rundschau,  vol.   142,  pp.  239f . 

sSuphan  II,  39.  Compare  XXIII,  569,  (1802);  XVI,  251, 
(1793);  V,  258,  (1773);  V  310,  (1771);  XX,  327,  (1798).  Brw. 
mit  Nicolai,  p.  78— July  2,  1772. 

4  Suphan  IV,  494  (note).  These  translations  are  preserved  in 
Volkslieder  II,  2,  14,  15    16. 

5Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  5 — Herder  to  Hamann,  Jan  1765;  p.  116 — 
Hamann  to  Herder,  Feb.  20,  1766.  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  102 — Herder 
to  Caroline,  Sept.  12,  1770— Herder  speaks  of  an  ode  of  Klopstock 
which  is  still  among  his  papers  in  Liefland. 

6  Suphan  I,  169,   (1767). 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY   41 

Most  of  Klopstock's  odes,  on  the  other  hand,  seem  to  him 
to  approach  the  hymn.  They  are  soliloquies  of  the  human 
heart.  His  "psalm"  gives  the  emotions,  in  their  rapid  suc- 
cession, an  unchecked  passage ;  we  hear  one  wave  beating 
upon  the  next;  a  final  surge  goes  higher  than  all  its  prede- 
cessors, and  silence  ensues;  we  are  lost  in  meditation,  till 
suddenly  a  new  succession  of  ideas  intoxicates  us  with  a 
pleasant  confusion  of  thoughts.1  Klopstock  knows  how  to 
penetrate  to  the  innermost  recesses  of  the  heart;  and  many 
a  song  is  a  model  in  the  expression  of  a  calm,  devout  emo- 
tion, especially  of  the  gentler  emotions.'  Nowhere  is  the 
poet  more  felicitous,  Herder  believes,  than  in  his  reflections 
upon  death.2 

The  critic  feels  the  individual  quality  of  genius  which 
Klopstock  has  breathed  into  his  poems  and  which  makes 
them  at  once  distinctly  modern  and  yet  genuinely  poetical. 
It  matters  little  to  him  whether  or  not  they  adhere  to  the 
classical  model  of  the  ode.  If  the  reader  is  not  willing  that 
they  should  be  called  odes,  Herder  says,  let  them  remain 
what  they  are — lyrical  pictures,  images  of  the  poet's  fancy 
which  find  expression  in  musical  language.3  Klopstock 
does  not  permit  his  imagination  to  lose  itself  in  the 
"labyrinth  of  mythology"  in  those  poems  which  sing  his 
emotions  and  arouse  the  feelings  of  the  reader.4  So,  too, 
Herder  finds  very  little  which  would  recall  the  classical 
poet,  Horace.  The  ode  dedicated  to  Frederick  of  Denmark 
and  placed  as  a  preface  to  the  "Messiah"  may  seem  at  the 
beginning  to  be  an  imitation  of  one  of  the  Latin  odes, — 
however,  in  his  portrayal  of  a  Christian  soul  the  German 
poet  soon  enters  a  world  of  thoughts  and  emotions  peculiar 

iSuphan  I,  467,  (1767). 

2Suphan  I,  269,  (1767). 

sSuphan  I,  209,  (1767). 

^Suphan  I,  436,  (1767). 


42  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

to  Klopstock  himself,  and  treads  a  path  utterly  unknown  to 
Horace.  In  some  other  poems,  as  in  the  "Zurchersee", 
Herder  admits  there  are  to  be  found  excellent  Horatian 
qualities,  but  the  final  impression  and  the  fundamental  tone 
he  maintains  to  be  entirely  the  contribution  of  Klopstock's 
talent.1  The  psalm  to  the  king  of  Denmark  Herder  con- 
siders a  model  in  the  imitation  of  the  unperiodic  melody  of 
the  Hebrew  poets;  he  finds  the  Hebrew  discerptation  (Zer- 
stiicklung)  of  language  and  at  the  same  time  the  synthesis 
of  images  peculiar  to  the  Greek  poets ;  here  and  there  appear 
little  water-falls,  yet  the  whole  remains  a  gentle  stream 
rolling  along  over  smooth  stones.  This,  Herder  believes,  is 
probably  Klopstock's  most  precious  lyrical  poem.2  Of  the 
ode,  'Truhlingsfeier",  he  says,  that,  inspired  by  nature  as  it 
is,  it  will  always  make  a  most  touching  appeal  to  a  sensitive 
heart  which  can  respond  to  the  delicate  feelings  expressed 
by  the  poem,  and  which  seeks  something  beside  mere  word- 
pictures  in  a  poem,  or  "non  sens"  of  spiritual  emotion.3 
We  shall  find  opportunity  later  to  discuss  more  definitely 
the  nature  of  Herder's  interests  and  work  immediately  upon 
his  return  to  Germany  after  an  absence  of  six  years.  It  will 
suffice  to  say  here  that  many  of  his  efforts  in  Strassburg  and 
Buckeburg  were  being  directed  toward  arousing  his  country- 
men to  a  recognition  of  their  own  talents  and  a  realization  of 
the  value  of  their  own  culture  by  awakening  a  live  interest 
in  the  past  achievements  of  their  race.  Every  subject  that 
could  lend  him  or  his  people  support  in  this  wonderful 
patriotic  movement  Herder  studied  zealously.  He  buried 
himself  in  the  literature  of  the  Orient;  and  he  contributed 
his  share,  as  well,  toward  the  rediscovery  of  the  language 

iSuphan  I,  467,  (1767). 
2Suphan  I,  271,  (1767). 
3Suphan  I,  485,    (1767). 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY       43 

and  literature  of  the  North,  and  the  awakening  of  the  spirit 
of  linguistic  and  historical  research.1  But  what  is  most 
significant,  Herder's  interest  in  Klopstock,  and  particularly 
in  Klopstock's  odes,  becomes  more  vital  than  ever  before. 
We  will  recall  how  he  had  longed  for  Klopstock's  "Mes- 
siah", "Lieder",  and  "Hermannsschlacht"  on  board  ship  upon 
leaving  Riga;  how  he  had  craved  these  same  works  in 
Nantes  to  fill  the  void  in  his  heart  caused  by  his  personal 
contact  and  acquaintance  with  the  French  people,  their  liter- 
ature and  culture.  Now  in  Strassburg  we  find  him  most 
diligently  collecting  the  odes;  he  writes  from  Hamburg  to 
Zurich,  from  one  end  of  Germany  to  the  other  for  them.2 
He  reads  the  odes  in  connection  with  the  poems  of  the  old 
German  Minnesingers  ;3  in  both  he  feels  the  breath  of  that 
viril  Germanic  spirit  which  he  hopes  to  reawaken  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen,  proof  of  the  fact  that  this  spirit 
is  still  alive,  needing  only  to  be  awakened  from  its  dormancy. 
But  besides  this  larger  critical  interest,  Herder  also  finds 
a  personal  satisfaction  in  reading  Klopstock's  odes.  In 
Caroline  Flachsland  he  had  found  his  own  "Cidli",  and  con- 
sequently the  feelings  of  love  and  friendship  which  Klop- 
stock had  expressed  so  passionately  in  his  poetry  appeal  to 
Herder  as  a  re-echo  of  his  own  entotions.  He  writes  to  his 
sweetheart,  August  30,  1770:  "Since  nothing  interests  me 
now  which  appeals  alone  to  reason,  you  can  judge  how  glad 
I  was  when  I  found  some  odes  of  Klopstock  which  are  new 
to  me  and  express  the  deepest  emotions."4  We  can  see 
how  sympathetic  Herder's  own  nature  was  with  that  of 
Klopstock  in  another  letter  written  to  Caroline,  in  which  he 

iLebensbild  III,  1,  p.  236— Herder  to  Caroline,  Oct.  28,  1770;  p. 
263— to   Hartknoch,   Nov.   21,   1770. 

2Lebensbild  III,   1,  p.   157.    To  Caroline,   September,   1770. 
3Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  89.    To  Caroline,  Sept.  9,  1770. 
4  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  78.    Compare  p.  94— Sept.  9,  1770. 


44  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

tells  us  that  while  reading  one  of  the  odes  ("Als  ich  unter 
den  Menschen  noch  war")  a  feeling  of  reminiscence  (eine 
Anerinnerung)  came  over  him — like  certain  emotions  which 
pass  like  lightning  through  the  soul — as  if  he  himself,  years 
before,  had  expressed  those  very  feelings  in  that  very  poem 
for  no  one  but  Caroline.1  The  lovers  address  each  other, 
too,  as  "Petrarca"  and  "Laura",  the  poetic  names  used  by 
Klopstock.2 

Herder  recognizes,  also,  the  ethical  and  moral  value  of 
the  odes,  for  he  writes  to  Caroline :  "However  much  I 
detest  an  erudite  woman,  it  seems  beautiful  to  me  that  a 
tender  soul  like  yours  should  be  able  to  realize  such  en- 
nobling emotions."3  Most  of  the  letters  which  Herder  wrote 
to  Caroline  from  Strassburg  are  full  of  references  to  the 
odes.4  He  sends  her  all  the  new  poems  he  can  find,  and 
when  he  expresses  his  intention  of  making  a  collection  of 
some  few  German  poems  which  seem  to  him  to  be  "the  true 
expression  of  emotion  and  the  outpouring  of  a  soul",  pro- 
poses to  include  in  it  some  of  Gerstenberg's  "Tandeleien", 
but  especially  Klopstock's  lyrical  poems.5  With  this  in  view, 
he  bids  Caroline  copy  some  of  the  latter  out  of  the  collection 
of  "Bremer  Beitrage"  which  is  available  to  her ;  he  intends 
to  put  them  into  a  song-book  (Gesangbuch),  "and  how  glad 
I  should  be",  he  says,  "to  secure  some  which  I  have  not  yet 
seen".6  Caroline  replies  to  Herder's  request,7  but  it  seems 
this  collection  never  came  to  pass.8 

1  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  89.  To  Caroline,  Sept.  9,  1770. 
2Lebensbild  III,  1.  p.  127.     To  Caroline,  Sept.  9,  1770. 

3  Lebensbild  III,  1.  p.  102.  To  Caroline,  Sept.  12,  1770. 

4  Lebensbild  III,  1,  pp.  59,  101,  127,  138,  167,  169,  170,  191,  204, 
241,  276. 

5  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  78.  To  Caroline,  Aug.  30,  1770. 

6  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  94.  To  Caroline,  Sept.  9,  1770. 

7  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  151.  To  Caroline,  Sept.  22,  1770. 

8  Haym  I,  420. 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY   45 

It  appears  that,  as  early  as  1752,  Klopstock  was  collecting 
his  odes  for  the  purpose  of  publishing  an  edition  of  them. 
At  any  rate,  he  writes  to  Gleim,  February  19,  1759:  "I 
beg  you  to  send  me  the  ode  "An  die  Freunde"  ("Wingolf"). 
I  am  engaged  in  looking  over  my  odes  and  bringing  them 
into  shape".1  Again,  in  1767,  he  writes  to  this  same  friend 
that  he  may  expect  the  odes  soon  "either  in  print  or  in  man- 
uscript".2 Still,  we  know  that  the  poet  always  considered 
his  odes  of  minor  importance  compared  with  the  "Messiah",3 
and  his  hope  of  seeing  them  published  collectively  evidently 
never  reached  a  high  pitch  of  concern.  The  poems  (forty- 
seven  in  number),  gleaned  from  all  sources,  and  not  all  of 
them  genuine,  finally  made  their  first  appearance  in  book- 
form,  without  Klopstock's  knowledge,4  among  that  cultured 
circle  of  the  poet's  admirers  in  Darmstadt  whom  Goethe 
often  called  "the  Darmstadt  communion  of  saints".5  The 
members  of  this  circle  (Caroline  Flachsland  was  a  leader 
among  them)  were  animated  by  the  spirit  of  human  kind- 
ness and  love  which  glowed  in  Klopstock's  poetry,  and 
remind  one  of  that  other  group  of  admirers  in  Zurich  who, 
feeling  the  influence  of  Klopstock's  wonderful  personality, 
all  but  worshipped  him  during  his  visit  there  in  1750.  In 
Darmstadt  the  nobility  itself  recognized  the  priceless  value 
of  Klopstock's  poetry,  for  the  first  printed  edition  was  made 
by  command  of  Countess  Karoline  of  Hessen-Darmstadt. 
It  appeared  in  the  spring  of  1771  with  the  title :  "Klopstocks 
Oden  und  Elegien.  Vier  und  dreyssigmal  gedrukt.  Fur 
Ihro  Hochfurstliche  Durchlaucht  die  Frau  Landgrafin  von 

iArchiv  fur  Litt.  Gesch.,  Vol.  XII,  251. 

2  Klopstock  X,  431.    Klopstock  to  Gleim,  Dec.  19,  1767. 

3  Weimar.  Jahrbuch  IV,  124.   Klopstock  to  Gleim,  Sept.  27,  1748. 
4Archiv  fur  Litt.  Gesch.,  Vol.  Ill,  396. 

5  Lyon,  p.  21. 


46  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Darmstadt.  Vignette.  Darmstadt,  1771. ni  Herder  was 
one  of  the  thirty-four  who  were  to  receive  copies,  and  upon 
reading  the  collection  he  expressed  his  appreciation  in  the 
following  poem: 

Zu    einer    Sammlung    Klopstock'scher    Oden    und    Elegien 
1771 

Ja,  sammlet  sie,  die   Blatter!   die  zerrissnen, 
zerstreuten   Waisen    Deutschlands !    Siisse    Bliithe 
soil  sie  denn  gar  der  Nord  verwehn? 

Versammlet  sie!   Dem   Bard'   am  tiefen  Sunde 
soil  hier  auf  Kattenhohn,  auf  Traubenbergen 
sein  Kranz  der  Wonnelieder  bliihn ! 

Denn   seine   Wonnelieder   sind   sie!    Blumen 
der  ersten  Fnihlingsseele !  sind  die  Braute 
der  Morgenrothefantasie 

von   Klopstocks   Leben!   Ach,   der   Bardej  tingling 
schuf  damals  noch  sein  Schafer-Eden !  schuf  es 
Weltiiber!    denn    auf    dieser    Welt, 

wo  ists?  Rief  Fanny,  die  er  noch  nicht  kannte, 
und  Fanny,  die  er  nie,  nie  kennen   sollte, 
sang   seine   Meta!    Meta   selbst 

ward   ihm  ja  Jugendtraum  nur!    Und  in  Anbruch 
des   Traums,   in   Ahndungs-,   in    Prophetenfarben 
da  wars!   da  taucht'  er  seinen  Kiel, 

und   schuf   sich   Rosenhimmel !    Spricht   mit   Engeln 
als   Briidern!    Mit  dem   Gott,   der  Engel  Vater 
als   Liebezartes   jiingstes   Kind, 

das  ihm  im  Schoosse  lacht.     Lacht  Himmel  um  sich, 
und   wo   der   Himmel   Nacht   wird,   o   da   dammern 
ihm  Thranen  neues  Himmelreich. 

Aufklaren   sie   die   Blick'   ihm,   dass   er   Zeiten 
weissagt,  die  kommen — weil  sie  kommen  sollen ! 
und  laben  ihn   mit  Ahndungstraum, 

i  Quellen  und  Forschungen,  Vol.  XXXIX,  82ff. 
Two  other  editions  appeared  later  in  1771 :  "F.  G.  Klopstocks  kleine 
poetische  und  prosaische  Werke.     Chr.  Fr.  D.  Schubart.    Frankfurt 
und  Leipzig,  1771 ;"  and  another  by  Bode  in  Hamburg  which  Klop- 
stock  himself  directed. 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY       47 

mit  Wiedersehn,  mit  Auferstehungsfreuden, 
mit  Dortumarmen,  mit  der  Krone   Dammerung, 
die  hier  ihm   ach !   ein   Dornkranz   ward ! 

Eilt  denn  in   Freunde-Chor  hin,   dichtet   Freunde 
sich   hin   ins   Leben ;    sollen's   jetzt   ihm   werden, 
und  haucht  sie  mit  Begeisterung 

der  Tauschungstund'  an.    Ach!  der  Bardej tingling 
sah   Menschen   noch   als   Bilder!   holde    Schatten 
des   Teppichs !     Liebetrunkner   Blick, 

Du   hattest  nicht  getastet,   und  die   Bilder 
so    Wandeflach    gefunden  ! — Menschenschone 
ist  Aussenwerk,  ist  Hiille  nur, 

1st    schone    Farb'    und    Gliederwohllaut.     Innen 
in  Eingeweiden  der  Natur,  in  Radern 
des  Kreiselaufs,  wo  ist  sie  da 

die  siisse  Tauschung?    Wo  die  Morgenrosen 
der  Wangen  und  der  schone   Puis  des   Busens 
und   aller   Reize   Zaubernacht? — 

Doch  weg,  Zergliedrerstahl !   du   Menschheitmorder, 
der  Morder  aller  Reiz'  und  Lebensfreuden, 
weg  in   des   kalten   Todes   Hand ! 

Nicht  in  die  Hand  des  Jiinglings.     Geht,  ihr  Freunde 
der  Unschuldslieb'  und  Wonn'  und  ihrer  Muse 
und    ihres    Thranenlustgesangs, 

Geht,   Freunde   Klopstocks!   und   der   schonste    Segen 
der  Menschheit  segn'  euch,   "seid,  o   siissgetauschet 
von  Lied'   und  Wciin'   und   Lebenszeit !" 

Ihr   sollt   mit  Klopstock   weinen !     Eure   Thrane 
aus  schonem  Herzen,  soil  ihn  schoner  schmiicken 
als  harter  Meeresperlen  Kranz ! 

Ihr   sollt   mit   Klopstock  weinen!   und   in    Blumen 
des  nahen  Fruhlings  hinzerfliessend,   fiihlen 
ihn  fiihlen,  Lebens  ganzen  Werth! 

Ein  Freud' — ,  ein  Freundschaftsbeben !  zwischen  Bergen 
der   alten   guten   Katten,   an   den   Granzen 
des  trugverarmten  Galliens ! 

sollt   euch   da   stilles   Eden   schaffen!    Reben 
des   siissen   Wahnes   trunkner   Stirn'   umschlingen 
und  allvergessen,  was  die  Welt, 

(Die  grosse  Sklaven-  Trug-  und  Narren-Erde!) 
vergessen,   was   sie   wurklich   ist!   und   schaffen 
in   Euch   und   um   Euch   Eure   Welt 


48  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Und  denn  mit   Klopstock  jauchzen!    Eure   Fiirstin, 
von    Kon'gen    einst    und    Koniginnen    Mutter! 
Heil   Euch,   dass    sie   mit   Klopstock    fiihlt!1 

We  remember  how,  many  years  before,  Herder  had  first 
been  moved  by  Klopstock's  odes;  with  what  eagerness  and 
zeal  he  constantly  collected  them ;  and  how  much  they  meant 
to  him,  especially  in  Strassburg.  But  here  for  the  first  time 
he  is  able  to  read  a  whole  collection  of  them  (almost  a  half 
hundred  in  one  volume),  and  the  strength,  beauty,  and  truth 
of  their  sentiment,  thus  composed  into  one  wonderful 
message,  is  so  moving  that  he  is  forced  to  find  relief  for 
his  feelings  in  poetry.  All  the  feelings  of  happiness,  com- 
fort, and  elevation  experienced  at  odd  moments  for  many 
years  by  the  reading  of  individual  odes  are  here  gathered  to- 
gether in  one  overwhelming  emotion  of  joy  and  thanks- 
giving. 

The  significance  of  this  collection  seems  to  him  to  be 
that  these  "tattered  and  scattered  orphans  of  Germany" 
have  been  brought  together  in  safe  keeping, — orphans  be- 
cause they  belong  to  all  of  Germany.  They  are  the  offspring 
of  the  heart  of  the  German  nation  as  it  beats  in  the  genius 
of  Klopstock.  These  sweet  blossoms,  he  predicts,  shall 
thrive  and  flourish  in  their  new  home  and  do  honor  to  their 
creator  who  tarries  in  the  North.  They  are  songs  of  the 
spring-time  of  the  poet's  life,  colored  by  the  wonderful  dawn 
of  his  youthful  phantasy.  Herder  recognizes  fully  the 
marvellous  genius  of  the  young  bard  in  creating  an  ideal 
world  of  love  and  beauty  to  satisfy  the  yearnings  of  his  over- 
flowing heart ;  his  genius  even  soars  up  into  the  very  heavens 
themselves,  in  its  efforts  to  realize  the  exalted  dream  of 
the  poet.  The  young  writer's  unselfish  humanity  makes 
him  long  for  communion  with  his  fellow-men,  and  his  fancy 

iSuphan  XXIX,  347ff. 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY        49 

again  aims  to  satisfy  his  cravings  by  conjuring  up  an  ideal 
world  of  friendship  rilled  with  companions  who  completely 
fulfill  the  demands  of  his  ideal  visions.  Here  Herder's 
critical  mind  gets  the  better  of  his  heart,  and  would  reflect 
for  a  moment  upon  the  usefulness  of  this  poetic  world  of 
the  imagination ;  but  he  shakes  off  the  temptation  to  use  this 
"dissecting-knife, — this  murderer  of  humanity  and  of  all 
life's  charm  and  joy."  There  comes  back  to  him  in  all  its 
sharpness  the  feeling  of  loneliness  which  he  had  experienced 
in  France,  and  the  barren  impression  which  French  culture 
and  art,  dominated  by  reason  and  artificiality,  had  made 
upon  him;  and  the  violent  contrast  to  all  this  found  in 
Klopstock's  poetry,  full  of  love  and  happiness,  again  makes 
him  realize  fully  what  an  important  role  this  poetry  should 
play  among  his  country-men,  helping  to  recreate  a  new  life, 
in  some  measure  comparable  to  the  ideals  expressed  in 
Klopstock's  verse.  On  the  border-land  of  Gaul  ("des  Trug- 
verarmten  Galliens" ;  and  in  an  earlier  rendering,  "des  armen 
Blendegalliens"),  he  asserts,  which  has  lost  all  power  of 
imagination  and  all  realization  of  the  importance  of  the 
creative  phantasy  for  real  life,  Klopstock's  admirers  shall, 
by  assimilating  the  spirit  of  this  poet's  work,  learn  to  ap- 
preciate the  full  worth  of  life.  This  ideal  world  created 
by  the  poet's  fancy  will  stir  them  to  nobler  efforts  to  make 
their  world  of  actuality  better  and  happier.1 

1  Suphan  XXIX,  347ff.  Concerning  this  poem  Herder  writes  to 
Merk,  in  April,  1771 :  "I  have  poured  forth  my  feelings  upon  the 
first  perusals  of  these  favorite  odes  of  Klopstock's  youth  (but  in 
accordance  with  my  present  misanthropic  views)  into  a  poem,  which 
I  have  sent  to  your  neighbor  as  a  word  of  gratitude  for  the  honor 
of  being  one  of  your  chosen  thirty-four" — Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  366. 
To  Caroline  he  writes :  "I  am  very  sorry  I  enclosed  the  'weinerliche' 

poem   on   Kloostock's   odes ;    it   was   the   first   'Aufwallung' "    

Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  355.  Herder  recognizes  the  literary  deficien- 
cies of  the  poem,  and  his  critical  mind  resents,  somewhat,  the 
exuberance  of  feeling  expressed  in  it. 


50  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

The  same  year  (1771)  Herder  composed  a  second  poem 
on  Klopstock's  lyrical  poetry.1  In  it  he  praises  particularly 
the  musical  quality  of  the  verse,  which  varies  with  the  spirit 
of  the  individual  odes;  thus  the  religious  poems  and  those 
inspired  by  nature,  each  possess  a  melody  peculiar  to  them- 
selves. He  considers  most  beautiful  the  love  poems;  they 
are  like  a  harp  of  morning  sun-beams  bodying  forth  the 
heavens  in  music.  He  notes  how  the  poet,  upon  the  death 
of  his  beloved  Cidli,  found  comfort  for  his  sorrow  in  singing 
the  praises  of  his  fatherland — a  fatherland,  however,  made 
more  perfect  than  the  real  Germany  by  the  idealizing  power 
of  imagination  which  conjures  up  Hermann's  bards.  Never- 
theless he  trusts  that  Klopstock  will  long  continue  to  sing 
of  this  visionary  country,  for  he  realizes  the  power  of  the 
ideal  to  make  the  real  more  perfect.  Just  as,  in  the  other 
poem,  he  hopes  the  circle  of  friends  in  Darmstadt  will  create 
a  better  and  happier  world  for  themselves  by  becoming 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Klopstock's  poems  on  friendship 
and  love,  so  here,  he  believes,  the  patriotic  odes  will  help  the 
whole  nation  attain  a  more  ideal  state. 

In  his  letters  to  Caroline  during  1771  (the  year  in  which 
the  three  different  editions  appeared)  and  1772,  Herder 
refers  again  and  again  to  the  odes,  evidently  rereading  them 
frequently.2  "An  die  Freunde"  would  seem  to  be  his  fav- 
orite ;  he  considers  it  more  Pindaric  than  any  ode  since  Pin- 
dar himself  wrote,3 — the  outpouring  of  the  fullest  heart  and 

i  Suphan  XXIX,  350.  See  Nachlass  III,  141.  To  Caroline, 
October-November,  1771. 

2  For  references  to  the  odes  see  letters  to  Caroline  (1771)  — 
Lebensbild  III,  1,  pp.  308,  338,  350;  Nachlass  III,  pp.  53,  81,  93,  111, 
125;  (1772)  Nachlass  III,  344;  (1773)  Nachlass  III,  416,  458.  To 
Merk  (1771)— Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  325.  To  Nicolai  (1772)— Brw. 
mit  Nicolai,  78. 

3  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  366.    To  Merk,  April,   1771. 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY       51 

the  most  beautiful  soul.1  Upon  receiving  an  edition  of  the 
poems  (most  probably  one  of  the  two  different  volumes 
published  in  the  fall  of  1771)  he  writes  to  Caroline,  October- 
November,  1771 :  "I  have  received  a  copy  of  Klopstock's 
odes,  and  kept  it  for  myself  only  three  days  so  that  you 
might  enjoy  it  the  sooner.  It  is  heavenly,  and  I  am  com- 
pletely carried  away  by  it It  has  no  equal Klop- 

stock  has  had  a  remarkable  effect  on  me" . . .  . 2  This  shows 
what  an  important  place  the  odes  had  come  to  occupy  in 
Herder's  mental  world,  and  what  great  satisfaction  his 
feelings  found  in  their  sentiments.3 

But  for  all  his  warm  praise,  Herder  was  not  unmindful 
of  Klopstock's  fatal  tendency  to  give  his  wonderful  imagi 
nation  such  free  play  that  it  tended  to  lose  itself  in  abstrac- 
tion, and  thus  fall  short  of  the  real  purpose  of  poetry,  name- 
ly to  stir  the  reader's  emotions  by  permitting  him  to  follow  in 
the  poet's  trail.  He  considers  himself  highly  honored  be- 
cause Merk  had  compared  the  duskiness  (Dammerung)  of 
his  poetry  with  the  same  quality  in  Klopstock;  yet  he  con- 
siders his  own  poetry  a  combination  of  thought  and  feeling, 
"a  mixture  of  philosophy  and  emotion".  In  the  outpouring 
of  pure  emotion  Herder  believes  Klopstock  far  superior  to 
himself;  still,  he  says,  Klopstock's  odes  leave  but  a  dusky 
chord  (Dammerungston)  of  vague,  confused  (dunkele) 
sentiments  in  the  reader's  soul !  "The  faint  echo  of  a  bell" 
(Nachhall  der  Glocke)  !  He  believes  his  own  poems  leave 
behind  a  clearer  thought  and  image  (was  Klareres,  Funke, 
Sentenz,  Bild,  Maxime).4 

iLebensbild  III,  1,  p.  355.    To  Caroline,  1771. 
2Nachlass  III,  141.     To  Caroline,  Oct-Nov.,  1771. 

3  References  to  the  odes  in  Caroline's  letters  to  Herder,  Dec 
1771,  Nachlass  III,  141;  Nachlass  III,  144  (Nov.  1771)  ;  p.  195  (Mar. 
9,  1772);  p.  290  (June  1772). 

4  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  333.  To  Merk,  1771.  Compare  Korte, 
401 — Sulzer  to  Bodmer,  Dec.  20,  1771.  Klopstock's  odes  are  here 
considered   too   "seraphisch". 


52  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

In  1767  Herder  had  expressed  his  feeling  of  the  deficien- 
cies of  the  "Messiah''  in  its  want  of  the  epic  spirit,  of 
action,  and  of  any  really  human  element.  In  1769  and  1770 
he  reiterates  this  even  more  forcefully,1  expressing  a  simi- 
lar idea  in  regard  to  some  of  Klopstock's  love  poetry  and 
that  of  his  imitators.  These  poems,  he  says,  have  soared  to 
the  very  gates  of  the  Oriental  heavens ;  to  the  altars  of  the 
protecting  spirits,  and  almost  to  the  throne  of  light  in  the 
chorus  of  heavenly  joys.  He  sounds  a  note  of  warning  to 
the  Klopstock  school  of  poets  by  reminding  them  that,  if 
they  would  follow  the  simplicity  and  naturalness  of  the 
Scotch  love-songs,  they  must  put  less  play-work  (Spielwerk) 
into  their  love  elegies.2  Herder  realizes  that  the  love  found 
in  Klopstock's  and  Gessner's  poetry  is  characteristic  of  that 
eighteenth  century  period  when  the  pendulum  had  swung 
its  farthest  from  intellectualism  to  emotionalism.  He  feels 
the  sharp  contrast  between  this  love  and  that  described  in 
the  old  Scotch  songs,  full  as  the  latter  are  of  a  tenderness 
and  nobility  which,  in  taking  complete  hold  of  us,  yet  makes 
us  nothing  less  than  human.  He  would  have  his  Eden  be 
rather  an  old  Celtic  hut  on  a  rugged  mountain  among  frost 
and  storm  and  fog  than  the  sweetest  Eden  which  Klopstock 
and  Gessner  could  paint  in  the  Orient.3 

Herder  published  a  criticism  of  Klopstock's  odes  in  1771. 
He  emphasizes  above  all  else  their  marvelous  lyrical  quality, 
especially  in  those  youthful  poems  in  which  Klopstock  pours 
forth  his  whole  heart  and  soul.  This  universal  human 
spirit  he  finds  breathed  through  all  the  poems,  but  with  a 
different  expression  in  each.  Not  only  do  the  spirit  and 
sentiment  differ,  but  the  individuality  of  each  is  emphasized 

iLebensbild  III,  1,  p.  138.    Herder  to  Caroline,  Sept.  20,  1770. 

2Suphan  III,  35,   (1769). 

3Lebensbild   III,   1,  p.  237.     To   Caroline,   Oct.   28,   1770. 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY   53 

by  a  difference  in  meter  and  rhythm ;  even  in  each  word,  and 
each  Oh!  and  Ah!  Here  human  nature  reveals  itself  in 
all  its  various  moods.  The  ode,  "Ziirchersee",  presents  a 
rarely  beautiful  description  of  the  power  of  nature  and 
spring-time  to  create  joy  and  happiness  in  the  human  heart. 
"An  Giseke"  presents  a  most  faithful  picture  of  the  parting 
of  friends.  The  wavering  of  the  emotions  between  the  deep 
grief  at  the  thought  of  separation  and  the  bright  hope  of  a 
future  meeting,  which  the  human  heart  experiences  at 
bidding  farewell  to  a  loved  one,  is  most  truthfully  described 
in  the  ode,  "An  Fanny".  In  some  of  the  poems  addressed 
to  God  Herder  misses  the  genuinely  lyrical  qualities  common 
to  the  other  poems;  he  considers  these  "mere  tirades  of 
phantasy".  Others  Herder  considers  very  artistic  treat- 
ments of  themes  not  suitable  for  lyrical  treatment,  and 
hence  impossible  of  consideration  as  pure  lyrics.  In  all, 
however,  the  critic  forbears  setting  a  boundary  for  the  poet's 
fancy;  the  reader  must  follow  the  poet  in  his  flights  of 
imagination,  and  see  things  as  he  saw  them. 

Klopstock's  poetry,  affirms  Herder,  has  also  a  more  ser- 
ious side.  Into  the  "torrent  of  emotion",  into  the  wonder- 
ful visions  created  by  his  fancy,  the  poet  weaves  great 
philosophical  thoughts.  In  "Gesang  an  den  Konig",  "Zur- 
chersee", and  "Rheinwein"  we  have  a  deep  inner  philosophy 
of  life;  in  the  odes  to  Cidli  we  have  a  metaphysics  of  love. 
In  the  last  book1  appear  a  hundred  excellent  thoughts  con- 
cerning language,  poetry,  verse,  Northern  mythology,  the 
fatherland,  and  many  more  subjects.  But  he  who  seeks 
only  "pensees",  Herder  says,  neglects  the  better  part  of  the 
poet's  great  soul.  The  critic  cannot  apply  his  usual  rule 
to  see  if  each  poem  answers  the  requirements  of  the  class- 
ical ode;  the  poet  has  travelled  a  new  path,  surveyed  by 

1  Very  probably  Herder  refers  to  the  edition   (Bode)   of   1771. 


54  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

himself  alone.  Hence  Herder  believes  that  from  Klop 
stock's  best  poems  the  most  perfect  rules  of  poetic  effect, 
and  even  a  new  theory  of  the  ode,  could  be  deduced;  for 
his  work  contains  the  formulation  of  many  new  laws.  'To 
be  sure,  Klopstock  has  been  very  successful  in  those  poems 
in  which  he  made  use  of  classical  meter;  but  he  has  dis- 
covered a  new  meter,  which  has  enriched  prosody/  In  this 
single  collection  of  odes,  Herder  says,  the  German  language 
and  German  poetry,  yea,  the  whole  German  race,  have 
received  a  most  precious  gift.1 

In  1783,  in  "Vom  Geist  der  Ebraischen  Poesie",  Herder 
considers  Klopstock  the  first  poet  who  has  brought  the 
Germans  to  an  appreciation  of  the  poetic  merits  of  the 
Hebrew  psalm ;  the  simplest  of  his  own  odes  are  notes  from 
David's  harp.  In  their  simplicity  and  real  lyrical  quality 
Herder  believes  that  many  of  the  hymns  and  songs  in  the 
"Messiah"  far  outshine  similar  productions  of  the  poets  of 
neighboring  countries.  He  calls  Klopstock  the  Assaph  of 
the  German  people,  and  hopes  the  poet's  lyrical  genius  will 
live  after  him  and  produce  in  his  own  country  a  second 
David.2 

Herder's  final  criticism  of  Klopstock's  lyrical  poetry  was 
written  upon  the  publication  of  a  new  edition  of  the  odes 
in  1798.  This  edition  had  undergone  many  changes;  the 
poems  were  arranged  in  chronological  order,  and  many 
appeared  in  print  for  the  first  time.  In  some  of  the  odes 
an  older  rendering  had  been  restored,  because  "it  was  the 
first  and  best  expression  of  the  author's  emotions".  This 
collection  of  odes,  Herder  believes,  presents  the  history  of 
the  emotional  experiences  of  a  poet's  life-time;  they  give 
us  "a  picture  of  the  inner  life  of  a  great  soul  from  the 

iSuphan  V,  350,   (1771). 
2Suphan  XII,  227,   (1783). 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY       55 

time  of  youth  to  the  memories  of  a  happy  old  age".  The 
poetry  itself  is  a  treasure  of  language  and  expression;  of 
meter,  rhythm,  and  lyrical  description.  Thought  and  emo- 
tion become  a  unit  in  the  cadence  of  words  and  melody; 
thus  each  poem  becomes  a  pure  lyric, — a  song.  Klopstock's 
muse,  either  as  harpist  and  singer  ("Siona"),  or  as  pro- 
phetess ("Teutone"),  appeals  to  the  human  heart  through 
the  ear;  now  in  soft  music,  and  now  in  louder  tones.  In 
the  early  poems  she  utters  the  language  of  truth  and  feeling 
as  a  child  speaks  it. 

'The  sentiment  expressed  in  every  work  of  art',  pursues 
Herder,  'determines  whether  it  is  divine  or  commonplace; 
and  Klopstock  need  not  be  ashamed  of  the  sentiment  em- 
bodied in  any  one  of  his  productions.  His  earliest  songs 
breathe  an  ideal  youthful  love  of  paradise ;  in  his  riper  years 
he  sings  of  deeper  things;  of  friendship,  of  religion,  and  of 
wisdom.  But  even  in  the  later  poems  he  does  not  blot  out 
entirely  the  liveliness  of  his  youthful  fancy,  for  the  sweet 
must  of  the  early  poems  has  but  taken  on  a  ripened  flavor, 
as  of  old  wine,  in  the  later  odes.  In  the  latest  poems  one 
can  detect  that  the  poet  is  growing  old;  but  they  neverthe- 
less paint  the  evening-glow  of  the  poet's  soul  just  as  beauti- 
fully as  the  early  poems  reflect  the  more  vivid  morning- 
dawn/  The  reason  for  this  difference  Herder  seeks  in  the 
subject-matter  of  the  later  poems,  so  varied  that  the  poet 
could  not  always  strike  the  same  lyrical  chord,  rather  than 
in  any  decline  of  the  poet's  powers.  Abstract  or  moral 
truths,  much  less  poems  dealing  with  artistic  subjects,  could 
not  be  sung  as  psalms  and  dithyrambs. 

In  the  ode,  "Mein  Vaterland",  Herder  finds  the  best  pre- 
sentation of  Klopstock's  attitude  toward  his  native  land.  'In 
the  later  poems  this  ruling  sentiment  of  patriotism  speaks 
more  loudly  because  the  times  demand  it.     The  poet  has 


56  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

not  changed  in  his  feeling  toward  princes,  warriors,  and 
conquerors,  and  the  patronage  and  praise  of  nobility.  His 
love  for  his  own  people,  however,  could  not  shut  out  from 
his  heart  an  interest  in  events  which  were  happening  in  a 
neighboring  country.  His  feeling  for  humanity  exceeded 
his  feeling  for  nationality.  Full  of  hope  for  the  deliverance 
of  a  whole  people,  he  wrote  the  "fitats  Generaux"  in  1798, 
— and  how  many  wise  and  worthy  men  in  Europe  did  not 
share  this  hope  with  him !  But  when  things  took  a  different 
course,  when  madness  and  horror  caused  all  humanity  to 
shudder  with  contempt  and  disgust ;  when  the  spirit  of  con- 
quest broke  forth,  and  the  heavens  grew  black  on  all  sides, 
then  Klopstock  pronounced  his  judgment  against  it  all/ 

'The  poet's  philosophical  poems,  his  words  of  wisdom, 
are  like  flowers  in  a  valley  among  cedars,  cypresses,  weeping- 
willows,  and  oaks.  The  poem,  "Der  Geniigsame",  proves 
that  the  poet's  wisdom  is  not  the  new  philosophy;  it  is  not 
abstract  reasoning,  but  real  life.  The  poet  must  always 
erect  his  own  monument  in  his  work;  Klopstock  has  erected 
his  in  the  ode,  "An  Freund  und  Feind."  n 

'Klopstock',  concludes  Herder,  'brought  the  ancients 
nearer  than  ever  before  to  the  Germans,  and  cultivated  in 
his  countrymen  a  better  understanding  and  a  deeper  ap- 
preciation for  the  lyrical  art  of  the  Greeks.  He  recreated 
the  German  language  of  poetry,  and  freed  it  from  the  fetters 
of  rhyme,  so  that  it  became  worthy  of  expressing  the  gen- 
uinely lyrical  nature  of  the  German  people ;  not  in  unproso- 
dic,  declamatory  style,  but  in  the  meter  of  the  ancients.  But 
Klopstock  went  further ;  he  created  a  modern  meter,  which, 
together  with  the  new  poetic  language,  has  caused  the  Ger- 
man lyrical  poem  to  become  a  genuine  product  of  the  Ger- 
man nature,  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  classical  ode 

iSuphan  XX,  327,   (1797). 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK'S  LYRICAL  POETRY       57 

of  the  Greeks.'1  Thus  Herder  in  his  criticism  and  interpre- 
tation of  Klopstock's  poetry  helped  to  awaken  among  his 
countrymen  an  understanding  of  the  most  truly  German 
form  of  verse,  the  lyric,  so  soon  to  find  its  greatest  master 
in  Goethe.2 

iSuphan  XXVII,  172,  (1795).  Compare  Suphan  XVIII,  118, 
(1796) —comparison  of  Klopstock  and  Milton;  XXIV,  202,  (1803) 
— comparison  of  Klopstock  and  Ramler. 

2  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  quote  what  Carl  Friedrich 
Cramer  says  regarding  Herder's  criticism  of  Klopstock's  odes : 
"Da  ich  so  manches  iiber  Oden  schreibe,  so  ists  nicht  uninteressant, 
auch  einmal  zu  beleuchten,  was  andre  driiber  sagen;  andre,  die  ich 
achte  und  ehre.  Herder  hat  so  viel  iiber  Dichter  geschrieben,  ist 
bey  allem,  was  man  auch  gegen  ihn  einwenden  mag,  so  sehr  Philo- 
soph;  hat  so  viel  Gefiihl  des  Wahren  und  Schonen,  dass  ich  mir 
keinen  wurdigern  Aristarchen  zu  erwahlen  weis,  wieder  dariiber  zu 
richten....  Denn  wie  viel  ich  auch  gegen  der  Detail  seiner  Critik 
einzuwenden  habe  so  erkenne  ich  doch  sehr  in  allem  diesen  den 
denkenden  Kopf,  den  Mann,  der  auf  seinen  Schriftsteller  iiberhaupt 
entrirt,  und  vor  allem  den  Mann  der  ihn  nicht  misverstehen  will, 
und  der  iiber  diesen  in  Deutschland  so  verkannten  Theil  der  Dich- 
terverdienste  Klopstocks,  das  Gesundeste  und  Beste  gesagt,  was 
noch  dariiber  gesagt  worden  ist". — In  Fragmenten  aus  Briefen  von 
Tellow  an  Elisa,  p.  226. 


V 


PART  II 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET 

Klopstock  was  the  first  person  to  succeed  in  giving  to 
poetry,  after  centuries  of  general  decline,  a  high  and  noble 
place  in  the  life  of  the  German  nation.  His  superior  gen- 
ius enabled  him  to  establish  his  own  brilliant  position  in  the 
literary  firmament;1  and  this  fact,  together  with  his  firm 
belief  in  originality  as  the  basis  of  all  genuine  art,  swept 
away  all  false  conceptions  of  artistic  production  for  that 
great  national  literature  which  was  to  culminate  in  Goethe 
and  Schiller.  More  than  a  hundred  years  before,  to  be  sure, 
Opitz,  who,  like  Klopstock,  was  the  "father  of  a  better 
(literary)  taste  in  Germany",2  had  emphasized  the  divine 
origin  of  poetry ;  but  his  attempts  were  largely  limited  to  an 
examination  of  the  proper  vehicle  in  language  for  verse, 
and  an  attempt  to  establish  metrical  reforms.  He  him- 
self was  unable  to  prove  the  vitality  of  his  belief  in  his  own 
work,  or  to  effect  among  his  contemporaries  a  realization  of 
its  truth.  Indeed,  the  idea  of  the  Olympic  and  inspired 
nature  of  poetry  is  as  old  as  the  form  itself ;  it  was  accepted 
as  an  axiom  from  the  time  of  the  ancients.  Its  real  meaning, 
however,  had  been  entirely  forgotten;  it  had  existed  for 

1  Giinther  had  failed  utterly  in  his  attempt  to  establish  himself 
as  a  poet. 

2Suphan  XVIII,  117. 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  59 

years  as  a  mere  useless  phrase.  The  Swiss  critics,  Bodmer 
and  Breitinger,  were  the  first  to  apply  it  again  in  the  em- 
phasis they  placed  upon  the  creative  fancy ;  but  this  was  only 
theory.  It  required  a  genius  like  Klopstock  to  prove  by  a 
conclusive  application  to  practice  the  verity  of  the  spon- 
taneous creation  of  genuine  poetry. 

Let  us  consider  Klopstock's  conception  of  genius  in  the 
years  prior  to  1762,  when  Herder  went  to  Koenigsberg. 
From  the  very  beginning  of  his  career  Klopstock  has  believed 
in  a  special  gift  with  which  the  poet  is  favored  above  ord- 
inary men,  and  which  is  of  divine  source;1  he  terms  it 
genius,2  nature,3  and  spirit.4  His  imagination  pictures  the 
genius  as  having  come  from  another  world  to  consecrate 
the  future  poet  at  birth  ;5  as  a  guardian  spirit  which  accom- 
panies man  throughout  life;6  or  as  the  soul  of  a  departed 
mortal  which  watches  over  a  friend  left  behind  in  this 
world.7  Subjectively  he  conceives  of  genius  as  a  mysterious 
inner  consciousness  which  manifests  itself  in  free  creative 
activity  ;8  in  a  mystical  sense  he  calls  it  a  voice  from  nature 
to  which  the  poet  responds.9  Thus  establishing  a  direct 
communication  with  nature,  independent  of  all  convention- 
ality, and  thereupon  embodying  his  experiences  in  a  work 

1  "Messiah",  I,  line  11;  X,  line  7.    The  ode,  "An  Gott",   1748. 

2  "Wingolf",  song  V,   1747.    "Fragen",   1752. 

3  "Wingolf  \  song  VIII,  1747.  In  "Fragen",  lines  1  to  2,  an  older 
version  reads:  "Veracht'  ihn,  Leyer,  der  der  Natur  Geschenk  In 
sich  verkennet — " 

4  "Fragen",  1752. 

5  "Lending  der  Griechen",   1747. 

6  "Messiah",  III,  lines  93,  202;  IV,  line  120.  "Wingolf",  II, 
1747.    "Salem",  1748.     "Die  beiden  Musen",   1752. 

7  "An  Bodmer",  1750.  "An  Young",  1752.  Die  Konigin  Luise", 
1752. 

8  "An  Gott",  1748.  In  an  older  version,  "Wingolf",  I,  stanza  2, 
reads :  " Willst  Du  zu  Strophen  werden,  o  Lied,  oder  Ununter- 
wiirfig,  Pindars  Gesangen  gleich,  Gleich  Zeus  erhabnem,  trunknem 
Sohne  Frei  aus  der  schaffenden  Seele  taumeln?" — Quoted  by  Otto 
Lyon,  51. 

9  "Wingolf",  VIII,  1747. 


60  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

of  art,  the  poet  becomes  the  creator  of  an  original  master- 
piece in  the  foot-steps  of  the  great  creator  of  the  universe.1 
As  early  as  1745,  in  his  Latin  farewell-address,  delivered  at 
Schulpforta,  the  young  poet  concedes  that  poetry  is  an  imi- 
tator of  nature;  but,  in  striving  for  beauty  and  perfection, 
it  presents  natural  things  in  a  new  order,  and  thus  it  becomes 
the  creator  of  a  new  world.2 

The  essential  element  of  all  poetry,  Klopstock  believes, 
is  the  power  to  appeal  to  the  emotions  of  the  reader  rather 
than  to  his  reason.  To  do  this  most  successfully  it  must 
be  a  full  expression  of  personality;  of  the  poet's  own  indi- 
vidual experiences,  as  well  as  a  product  of  divine  genius. 
The  greatest  poetry,  then,  combines  with  this  mysterious  ele- 
ment the  human  feelings  of  the  poet ;  it  becomes  a  vital  ex- 
pression of  action,  humanity,  and  life.  The  imagination  must 
therefore  not  lose  itself  in  abstractions  which  pass  beyond 
human  experience ;  and  if  it  does  dominate  any  particular 
passage  there  must  be  evident  a  certain  "fire"  which  can 
still  stir  the  reader's  feelings.  The  sublime  arouses  man's 
whole  inner  nature,  and  that  divinely  attuned  soul,  which 
itself  is  a  partaker  of  the  divine,  is  most  effected  and  is 
able  to  transmit  its  ardor  to  others.  All  of  our  souls  are 
united  in  a  bond  of  harmony,  and  when  one  of  them  is 
aroused  the  others  respond;  the  heart  flames  up;  the  whole 
consciousness  expands;  the  imagination  is  quickened; 
thoughts  and  feelings  grow  larger  and  rise  to  a  higher 
plane.  A  new  harmony  of  souls  is  born  which  raises  man- 
kind above  the  baser  things  of  this  world  and  brings  it 
into  closer  relation  to  truth.3    Such  is  the  effect  of  genuine 

1  "Messiah",  I,  line   10.     "Friedrich  der  Fiinfte",   1750. 

2  D.  F.  Strauss,  X,  31. 

3  "Von  der  heiligen  Poesie",  Klopstock  X,  225,  231,  237,  (1755 
and  1760).  "Von  der  Sprache  der  Poesie",  X,  208,  (1759-60). 
"Gedanken  uber  die  Natur  der  Poesie",  X,  215,  (1759-60). 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  61 

poetry,  according  to  Klopstock's  belief  as  expressed  in  his 
works  before  1762. 

We  will  recall  that  it  was  probably  during  the  two  years 
he  spent  in  Koenigsberg  that  Herder,  through  Hamann, 
learned  first  to  appreciate  Klopstock's  significance  for  Ger- 
man literature.  In  him  he  found  not  merely  a  great  genius, 
but  a  true  representative  of  his  own  country  (as  opposed 
to  the  great  genius  of  another  country  whose  acquaintance 
he  also  made  at  this  time),  the  native  flavor  in  whose  work 
had  succeeded  in  proving  that  the  German  race  possessed 
that  spirit  which  could  give  expression  to  original  and  gen- 
uine poetry.  In  Klopstock's  works  the  young  critic  was 
able  to  find  expressed  the  poet's  ideas  concerning  genius,  the 
source  and  purpose  of  the  truly  beautiful,  and  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  originality  in  the  production  of  the 
aesthetic. 

In  one  of  Herder's  earliest  critical  works,  in  the  essay 
on  the  ode,  written  in  Koenigsberg,  he  presents  his  own 
interpretation  of  the  true  artist, — an  interpretation  which 
shows  a  marked  similarity  to  that  of  Klopstock.  He,  too, 
considers  genius  a  vital  inner  impulse  (Wuth),  which  ex- 
presses itself  in  free  creative  activity1  This  "fire  of  the 
lord"2  becomes  the  source  of  all  forms  of  poetry, — the  ode, 
the  drama,  and  the  epic.3  The  greatest  poet  Herder  terms 
a  "creator",  because  he  creates  his  work  out  of  his  own 
heart,4  independent  of  conventionality.    He  recognizes  that 

1  Lebensbild,  I,  3,  a,  pp.  80,  84. 

2  Lebensbild,  I,  3,  a,  p.  87 — "Odenfeuer" ;  p.  64 — "Enthusiasmus" 
and  "hohe  Poetische  Theopneustie" ;  pp.  88,  89 — "Dieses  freche 
Feuer  des  Parenthyrsus  ist  das  schopferische  Genie",  p.  83 — 
"Schopfersgeist". 

3  Lebensbild,  I,  3,  a,  pp.  83,  63. 

4  Lebensbild,  I,  3,' a,  p.  83.  Suphan  XXIX,  234,  (1764)  ;  XXIX, 
8,  (1764);  230,  235,  258.  Herder,  like  Klopstock,  believes  in  a 
personal  genius— XXIX,  10,  232,  247,  249,  251. 


62  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

if  his  arrows  are  to  carry  home  to  the  heart  of  the  reader, 
the  poet  must  combine  with  his  soaring  genius  the  human 
element,  his  own  individual  experiences.1  For  Herder,  as 
for  Klopstock,  the  essential  element  of  genuine  poetry  is 
the  power  to  appeal  to  the  emotions;  to  stir  man's  whole 
inner  nature.2 

Thus  far  Herder's  ideas  coincide  with  those  which  Klop- 
stock had  expressed  before  him ;  but  his  critical  mind  causes 
him  to  emphasize  more  than  does  the  poet  their  practical 
application.  He  realizes  that  the  beautiful  is  closely  related 
to  the  human  emotions  ;3  and  the  more  nearly  these  approach 
a  unit  in  the  artist's  nature,  the  less  easily  can  a  critic  reduce 
the  aesthetic  qualities  of  such  a  creation  to  principles  of 
artistic  production.4  If  one  tries  to  analize  a  true  work  of 
art  too  closely,  all  "fire  and  spirit"  vanish,  and  only  "water 
and  dust"  remain.5  Thus  Herder  recognizes  that  rules 
deduced  from  classical  models  lack  entirely  that  very  ele- 
ment which  makes  the  poet's  creation  a  true  work  of 
genius,  and  thus  they  can  never  give  rise  to  genuine  art. 
If  the  reader  perceives  that  a  poem  is  built  about  the  frame- 
work of  a  classical  model,  he  will  feel  that  there  is  lacking, 
in  spite  of  all  possible  perfection  of  form,  that  indefinable 
spirit  which  permeates  an  original  creation,  and  will  find 
nothing  of  aesthetic  value  but  a  few  fine  thoughts.6  Thus 
early,  even  before  leaving  Koenigsberg,  and  just  at  the  time 
when  he  first  realized  in  Klopstock  the  qualities  of  a  true 
genius,  the  young  critic  emphasizes  the  fundamental  ideas 
regarding  originality  in  art. 

In  his  later  work  Herder  continues  to  interpret  genius  as 

1  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  pp.  82,  84.     Compare  pp.  62,  63. 

2  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  63. 

3  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  61. 

4  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a  ,p.  66. 

5  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  96. 

6  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  67. 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  63 

the  necessary  element  in  the  production  of  original  master- 
pieces, now  using  mystical  language  to  describe  it  and  em- 
phasizing its  divine  quality,1  and  now  speaking  of  it  in  terms 
of  natural  phenomena  and  dwelling  on  the  human  element.2 
He  is  fond,  too,  of  reference  to  a  personal  genius;  to  a 
guardian  spirit  which  watches  over  man.3  The  critic  con- 
siders genius  an  inborn  heavenly  gift,  which  needs,  how- 
ever, to  be  aroused  and  disciplined  before  it  can  reach 
perfection.4  In  other  terms  he  considers  it  a  natural  ability 
to  "feel"  the  beautiful,  which  in  the  genius  becomes  second 
nature.5  The  work  of  the  genius  is,  therefore,  not  a  pro- 
duct of  reflection  and  of  study;  but,  instead,  it  is  the  spon- 
taneous structure  built  by  his  imagination,  but  kept  within 
bounds  by  observation  of  nature  and  restrained  emotion. 
Herder  realizes  the  besetting  danger  that  unfettered  fancy 
and  passion  would  lose  themselves  in  abstractions,  and 
hence  failing  to  stir  the  reader's  emotions,  leave  his  soul 
cold   (leer).6     He  demands  that  poetry  that  would  appeal 

i  Suphan  XVIII,  133,  (1796)  ;  VIII,  334,  (1778)— "Poetry  is  the 
daughter  of  heaven";  V,  218,  (1773) — 'Shakespeare  is  possessed 
with  "Gotterkraft"  and  is  a  fortunate  "Gottersohn"  endowed  with 
"Schopf ungsgeist" ' ;  XXIX,  104,  (1787)— "To  build  an  immortal 
masterpiece  in  the  footsteps  of  the  creator";  XXIX,  51,  (1774)  — 
"Poetry  is  a  harp  of  the  gods;"  XXIX  325,  (1769)— "Triebe  der 
Gottheit",  "Geist  der  Schopfung" ;  XXIX,' 641,  (1780-1800)—  "Schop- 
fer  Geist".  Lebensbild  I,  276,  (1765)— "Schopf ungsgeist".  XVIII, 
73,    (1796) — "Raphael,  a  heavenly  genius." 

2  Suphan  V,  183,  (1773) — Poetry  is  the  "stormiest,  most  secure 
daughter  of  the  human  soul".  Brw.  mit  seiner  Gattin,  279 — "Poetry 
is  a  mirror  of  the  heart".  Suphan  V,  166,  (1769) — "Poetry  is  the 
music  of  the  soul";  XVIII,  74,  (1796)— "Poetry  is  the  pure  lan- 
guage of  the  heart  and  mind". 

3  Lebensbild  I,  2,  pp.  128,  136,  142,  177,  56.  Lebensbild  III,  1,  pp. 
104,  114,  117,  59,  180.  Nachlass  III,  p.  71.  Brw.  mit  seiner  Gattin, 
332.  Suphan  III,  31;  IV,  463;  V,  135;  XXIX,  119,  138,  207,  208, 
212,  220,  254,  509,  561. 

4  Suphan  XVIII,  81     (1796). 

5  Suphan  IV,  23  (1769). 

6  Suphan  II,  151,  152,  153,  (1768);  XXIX,  151,  (1768);  XVIII. 
20,  (1796). 


64  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

fully  to  man's  inner  nature,  that  would  possess  action  and 
passion;  and  this  he  feels  can  never  be  the  result  of  con- 
scious, studied  labor.1  The  purely  reflective  poet  he  con- 
siders no  poet  at  all.2  The  ode,  from  which  sprang  all  poet- 
ry, was  originally  a  simple  expression  of  man's  emotional 
experiences ;  it  was  the  communion  of  the  human  heart  with 
God,  itself,  and  nature.3  This  is  what  all  genuine  poetry 
should  be.  Our  souls  can  be  united  in  a  common  bond  of 
harmony  by  the  awakening  of  fundamental  emotions,  which, 
causing  "sparks  to  chase  through  the  heart  and  soul",  give 
rise  to  happiness  and  to  productive  activity.  This  is  inspira- 
tion,— an  enlivening  of  the  soul  which  becomes  a  creative 
power  and  the  source  of  all  genuine  poetry.4  This  spirit  can 
be  transmitted  from  one  soul  to  another,  especially  if  both  be 
endowed  with  genius,  and  give  rise  to  true  art.5 

Herder  concedes  that  art  can  make  everything  except 
nature  ;6  all  natural  phenomena  were  made  in  "Gotteswurf ", 
and  were  not  the  result  of  "sweat  and  labor".7  Thus  the 
poet,  in  order  to  produce  the  natural  and  the  genuinely 
aesthetic,  must  draw  forth  his  work  from  the  depths  of  his 
soul;8  he  must  let  it  grow  naturally  and  without  restraint 
by  conventional  rule.9  The  true  poet,  and  indeed  every 
"fiery"  genius,  is  unconscious  of  adherence  to  rules,  or  even 
of  a  formal  conception  of  what  constitutes  beauty,  when 
he  creates  his  work;  his  imagination,  his  "fiery  glance", 

i  Suphan  III,  157,  94  (1769)  ;  XVIII,  140,  (1796)  ;  III,  158,  (1769) 
2Suphan  XVIII,  139,  (1796). 
3  Suphan   IV,   206,    (1773);   I,  270,    (1767). 
^Lebensbild  III,   1,   p.   116.     To   Merk,   Sept.   1770.     Suphan   I, 
472,   (1767). 

5  Suphan   I,    5,    (1764). 

6  Suphan  IX,  315,  352. 

7  Suphan  XXIX,  380,    (1773). 

8  Suphan  II,  179,   (1768). 

»  Suphan  IX,  329;    XXXII,  234;    III,  438,   (1769). 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  65 

which  encompasses  the  whole  situation ;  the  thousand  powers 
which  arise  in  him;  all  this  works  together,  and  a  master- 
piece is  the  result.1  The  world  of  the  emotions  is  a  realm  of 
spirits,  of  atoms,  and  only  a  creative  talent  can  make  forms 
out  of  it.2  In  doing  this  the  genius  will  not  violate  the  basic 
principles  of  art,  even  though  he  should  disregard  the  arti- 
ficial formulae  deduced  from  models.3  Thus  Sophocles  was 
unconscious  of  Aristotelian  doctrines  when  he  produced  his 
great  work;  and  yet  his  genius  was  far  greater  than  that 
of  Aristotle.  Classic  rules  are  of  no  assistance,  but  are 
rather  a  hindrance  to  the  genius  who  makes  his  own  path  ;4 
the  greatest  genius  absolutely  ignores  all  convention.5  Even 
the  ordinary  canons  of  grammar  need  not  be  regarded  by 
him,  for  he  who  is  a  self-thinker  will  also  be  individual  in 
his  means  of  expression.6.  A  genius  seeks  and  creates  new 
words;  he  digs  into  the  bowels  of  the  language,  as  into  a 
mine,  to  find  gold,7  and  is  able  to  evolve  from  the  crudest 
dialect  a  tongue  capable  of  conveying  the  most  artistic 
poetry.8 

Herder  condemns  all  would-be  critics  and  dogmatists, 
whose  appearance  has  resulted  in  the  disappearance  of  all 
creative  fervor.9  The  purpose  of  criticism,  he  believes,  is 
to  develop  poetry  as  an  art,10  and  to  this  end  it  must  embody 
a  recognition  that  form  is  an  essential  element  in  poetry; 
but  this  form  is  only  the  body  which  gives  expression  to  a 

iSuphan  IX,  23,   (1796). 
2Suphan  XVIII,  138,   (1796). 
^Suphan  III,  48,   (1769). 
4Suphan  IV,  19,    (1769). 
5Suphan   II,   230,    (1768). 
6Suphan  I,  207,   (1767). 
^Suphan  II,  20,   (1768). 
8Suphan  II,  50,    (1768). 
9Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  160.     S.  I,  171,   (1767). 
iGSuphan  XXIX,  388,   (1773);  V,  218,    (1773). 


66  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

spirit,  to  a  "great  thought", — the  real  life,  the  soul,  which 
even  determines  the  outer  form.  If  this  soul  is  destroyed, 
the  form  becomes  a  mere  lifeless  mask.1  Thus  the  most 
important  element  of  poetry  is  its  spirit;2  and  a  literature 
must  be  careful  not  to  impose  upon  itself  a  form  foreign 
to  its  own  spirit.3  A  poetry  built  upon  borrowed  rules  of 
aesthetics  or  morality  is  decadent.4  It  is  a  natural  law  that 
in  poetry  and  art  only  the  true  and  the  good  are  lasting;5 
and  when  poetry  possesses  these  qualities — "living  nature, 
true  morality" — it  will  be  most  genuine  in  its  aesthetic 
value  and  be  of  the  greatest  influence.6  Poetry  must 
contain  a  spirit  of  genius — a  certain  "fire"  which  comes 
from  one  heart  and  enters  into  another — if  it  would  be  true 
art.7  Genuine  taste  and  genuine  poetry  are  offspring  of  a 
true  philosophy  of  nature,  of  history  and  of  life ;  they  make 
up  this  philosophy.8  Thus  if  the  whole  subjective  world 
of  the  soul  could  be  made  objective  in  verse,  Herder  believes, 
we  should  have  the  highest  and  most  genuine  poetry.9 

Unlike  Lessing,  whose  creative  work  is  largely  a  result 
of  his  critical  theories,  Klopstock  first  exercised  his  powers 
as  a  genius  and  then  became  a  critical  interpreter  of  his 
own  original  productions.  We  have  already  noted  Klop- 
stock's  conception  of  genius  and  of  genuine  poetry  before 
1762;  throughout  his  career  he  continues  to  express  the 
same  ideas.  His  great  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
criticism  was  the  "Gelehrtenrepublik",  published  in  1774. 
In  all  of  his  work,  both  prose  and  poetry,  Klopstock  speaks 

i  Suphan  XVIII,  121,   (1796). 

2Suphan  XVIII,  121,   (1796). 

3Suphan  XVIII,  124,   (1796). 

4 Suphan  II,   152,    (1768). 

5 Suphan  XVIII,  58,    (1796). 

6  Suphan  VIII,  435,  338,  339. 

7 Suphan  I,  256,  (1767)  ;  VIII,  334,  (1778)  ;  IV,  368,  (1769).    . 

8  Suphan   XVIII,  515;   II,   156,    (1768). 

9  Suphan  I,  474,   (1767). 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  67 

of  genius,1  nature,2  spirit,3  but  in  his  later  years  he  also 
makes  use  of  the  French  term,  genie.4  This  inborn,  divine 
power,  which  awakens  the  poet  at  mid-night  and  impels  him 
to  write,5  Klopstock  believes,  must,  however,  be  formally 
trained  by  art  before  it  can  become  perfect  in  its  produc- 
tion.6 But  above  all  artistic  perfection,  he  maintains,  a 
poem  must  be  full  of  action  and  passion,  without  which 
it  would  be  a  mere  body  without  a  soul.7  For  Klopstock, 
as  for  Herder,  the  spirit  of  a  poem  is  more  important  than 
its  form ;  it  must  present  nature,  as  did  the  Greeks.8  This 
spirit  is  not  supplied  by  discipline  in  the  art  of  writing 
poetry,  but  by  the  poet's  genius  and  his  own  personality, 
together  with  his  observation  of  nature.9 

Klopstock  bids  the  young  poet  follow  the  "spirit"  which 
is  in  him  and  disregard  all  books  of  rules.10  The  true  poet 
bears  in  his  heart  his  own  laws,  which  are  the  basis  of  his 
poetry.11  Thus  in  twenty  verses  of  Homer,  who  wrote 
independent  of  dogma,  there  are  found  more  basic  laws 
of  poetry  than  in  one  thousand  paragraphs  from  books  of 
instruction.12  Klopstock  is,  therefore,  utterly  opposed  to 
all  imitation,  because  it  produces  according  to  artificial  rules 
deduced  from  classical  models  and  fails  to  grasp  that  in- 

1  "Unsere  Fiirsten",  1781.  "Wink",  1778.  "Der  jetzige  Krieg" 
1781.  Epigrams  70,  73.  "Wir  und  Sie",  1766.  "An  Freund  und 
Feind",   1781.    "Beide",   1782. 

2  "Aesthetiker",    1782. 

3  "Unsere  Sprache",  1767."  Gelehrtenrepublik",  p.  159.   "Die  Ver- 
kennung",   1779.     "Der  Frohsinn",    1784.     "Pie   Ratgeberin"     1795. 

4  "Unsere  Sprache",  1767.  "Beruhigung",  1778.  "Die  Denkzeiten", 
1793.     "An  meinen   Bruder,  Viktor  Ludewig",   1797.     Epigram   17. 

5  Epigram  70.  "Gelehrtenrepublik",  pp.  49,  315 — "Stunden  des 
Genies". 

6  "Beide",  1782.    "Gelehrtenrepublik",  p.  155. 

7  "Gelehrtenrepublik"    p.  320. 

8"Nachahmer   und   Erfinder",    1796.     "Der   Unterschied",    1771. 
9  "Gelehrtenrepublik",   p.    159. 

10  "Gelehrtenrepublik",  p.   159. 

11  "Gelehrtenrepublik",  pp.   159,   166;    "Aesthetiker",   1782. 

12  "Gelehrtenrepublik",  p.  207. 


68  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

definable  spirit  which  characterizes  the  highest  poetry;1  it 
does  not  come  from  the  heart  of  the  poet.2  In  contrast  to 
geniuses,  whom  he  calls  "Gottermenschen",3  "creators",4 
Klopstock  terms  imitators,  "Unwissende",  5  and  "Ungeweih- 
te".6  He  is  even  more  bitter  in  his  condemnation  of  would- 
be  genius,  which  in  its  delusion  throws  aside  all  rule  and 
forsakes  all  fundamental  laws  of  art,  and  produces  mon- 
strosities.7 

In  Klopstock's  estimate,  expressed  as  early  as  1755,  the 
true  poet  has  a  high  and  noble  duty  to  perform;  he  must 
lift  man  above  the  commonplace  and  enrich  his  world  of 
thought ;  he  must  remind  man  of  his  immortality,  and  reveal 
to  him  the  possibility  of  greater  happiness  on  this  earth.8 
Such  a  poet  Klopstock  himself  was,  and  this  Herder  recog- 
nized. He  writes  to  Lavater,  referring  to  the  poet:  "Who 
possessess  more  feeling  of  yonder  world  ....  than  this 
heavenly  genius  in  human  form?"9  When  in  his  critical 
works  Herder  presents  his  interpretation  of  the  poet's  gift 
to  humanity,  it  is  of  the  message  he  found  expressed  in 
Klopstock's  works  that  he  speaks. 

Herder  believes  that  God  selects  certain  mortals  to  act  as 
his  regent  on  earth  ;10  among  these  chosen  few  he  places  the 
poet,  who  becomes  a  god  among  men.11     The  divine  spirit 

1  Epigram  70.  "Gelehrtenrepublik",  pp.  55,  155,  127,  206;  "Ver- 
schiedene  Zwecke",  (1778)  ;  "Delphi",  (1782)  ;  "Der  Nachahmer  und 
der  Erfinder",    (1796). 

2  "Gelehrtenrepublik",   pp.    159,    166;    "Aesthetiker",    (1782). 

3  "Der  jetzige   Krieg",    (1781). 

4  "Messiah"   I,   11;   "Der  Unterschied",    (1771). 
5"Wingolf"  VI,    (1747). 

6  "Kaiser  Heinrich",    (1764). 

7  Epigram  108;  "Massbestimmung",  (1781);  "Beide",  (1782); 
"Die   Ratgeberin",    (1795);   "Lerche   und   Nachtigall",    (1796). 

8  "Von  der  heiligen   Poesie",  X,  227;    (1755). 
SNachlass  II,   14.     Oct.,  1772. 

!°Suphan  XIII    351,    (1785). 
uSuphan  VIII,  434,  (1778). 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  69 

reveals  itself  to  humanity  through  the  poet's  work,  which 
thus  becomes  an  interpreter  of  nature  and  of  God;1  it  is  a 
noble,  joy-giving  balsam  composed  of  the  most  secret  powers 
of  God's  creation.2  If  the  poet  has  this  higher  purpose,  and 
is  really  a  messenger  of  the  gods ;  if  he  feels  the  impulse  of 
this  great  power  and  responds  to  it,  his  words  will  "fly  like 
arrows  out  of  his  golden  quiver  into  the  heart  of  human- 
ity".3 He  will  breathe  with  a  noble  fire,  with  something 
transcending  the  earthly,  and  will  create  a  whole  world  of 
happiness,  knowledge,  language,  and  religion  for  his  people. 
Such  a  poet  has  the  hearts  of  his  people  at  his  command  and 
can  lead  them,  whither  he  will,  to  ends  lofty  or  ignoble.  He, 
however,  who  recognizes  the  true  dignity  and  nobility  of 
his  genius;  who  loves  his  people  and  his  fellow-men;  who 
flees  all  mean,  worldly  temptation,  and  fixes  his  aim  upon 
the  position  of  Orpheus,  Homer,  Moses,  or  one  of  God's 
prophets ;  who  considers  nothing  more  sacred  than  the  voice 
of  nature  and  of  truth,  and  possesses  that  spark  of  creative 
power  and  love  which  flows  into  his  soul  from  heaven  and 
dwells  in  every  true  poet, — Herder  declares  that  when  such 
a  chosen  one  appears  and  permits  his  soul  to  express  what 
it,  above  all  other  men,  has  experienced,  he  will  work  mir- 
acles. He  will  give  utterance  to  something  more  than  the 
feelings  of  his  own  human  heart.  As  the  magnet  attracts 
iron,  so  he  will  attract  his  fellow-beings;  as  the  electrical 
spark  penetrates  all  things,  so  his  "lightning"  will  strike 
into  the  consciousness  of  men;  as  the  gentle,  radiant  sun- 
beam, flooding  everything,  becomes  here  light,  there  warmth, 
everywhere,  however,  beauty,  splendor,  colors,  spring-time, 
life, — so  will  genuine  poetry  work  its  wonders  on  individ- 

iSuphan  VIII,  362. 
2Suphan  VIII,  343. 
3Suphan  VIII,  369. 


70  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

uals  and  whole  peoples.1  He,  in  whose  soul  great  and  orig- 
inal thoughts  are  born  into  expression ;  he  who  sees  not  with 
the  eye  alone,  but  with  the  spirit  as  well,  and  does  not  speak 
with  his  tongue  alone  but  with  his  soul;  he  who  is  able  to 
watch  nature  create;  can  spy  out  new  evidences  of  her 
workings,  and  convert  them  by  artistic  means  to  human  pur- 
poses,—  in  him  are  combined  all  human  faculties  most 
harmoniously;  he  is  the  "eigentliche  Mensch",  and  since  he 
appears  but  rarely,  is  a  god  among  men.2 

Shortly  before  his  death  Herder  said  to  Kurfiirst  Fried- 
rich  August,  of  Saxony,  that  he  considered  poetry  an 
almost  indispensible  means  for  the  uplifting  and  ennobling 
of  man's  whole  nature  and  character.3  Some  years  before 
he  had  written  that  all  culture  begins  with  story-telling.4 
The  Greeks  drew  from  Homer  wisdom,  art,  and  morality.5 
The  more  closely  the  heroic  spirit  and  unrestrained  (unge- 
zierte)  humanity  are  related,  the  more  noble  will  the  human 
soul  be,  even  without  moral  compulsion  or  rule.  The  more 
the  feeling  for  beauty  is  a  ruling  taste  in  a  nation,  and  a  feel- 
ing of  humanity  the  guiding  principle  of  the  state,  the  more 
effective  will  poetry  be  in  the  life  of  that  nation,  and  the 
more  generally  pleasing  and  useful  it  will  be ;  and  the  poet, 
as  a  poet,  will  be  recognized  a  noble  citizen  of  that  country.6 

Herder  believes  that  the  poet  is  first  of  all  a  man;  an 
honest  friend  of  humanity ;  a  promoter  of  health,  happiness, 
and  truth.7  The  whole  purpose  of  poetry  is  to  strike  the 
heart  of  humanity;8  it  is  divine  in  its  effect.9     Just  as  the 

i  Suphan  VIII,  433,  434,    (1778). 

2 Suphan  XIII,  369,    (1785). 

3  Erinnerungen    III,    228. 

4 Suphan   XVIII,   32,    (1796). 

5  Suphan  VIII,  371. 

6 Suphan   II,   154,    (1768). 

7  Suphan   VIII,  424,    (1778). 

8  Suphan   VIII,  407. 

9  Suphan  VIII,  344. 


THE  CONCEPTION  OF  THE  POET  71 

members  of  a  chorus  become  one  soul  and  one  heart  in  their 
song,1  so  poetry  and  song  can  unite  the  hearts  of  a  whole 
people.2  Germany  owes  to  her  heroes  and  her  bards  the 
fact  that  Rome  did  not  conquer  her;  so  long  as  her  poets 
lived  her  national  spirit  was  unconquerable;  her  peculiar 
traits,  customs,  and  manners  were  maintained;  her  person- 
ality could  not  be  destroyed.  Among  barbarous  folks  songs 
are  knowledge,  history,  law,  manners,  joy,  charm,  comfort, 
"hours  of  heaven  on  earth" ;  and  these  peoples  are  often  of 
purer  morals  than  are  the  civilized  races.3  Similarly,  in 
modern  times  the  most  individual  poets  are  the  most  na- 
tional, and  are  the  most  precious  possession  of  their  coun- 
try.4 Their  poetry  is  a  mirror  of  the  thoughts  of  their 
land,  and  of  her  faults  and  virtues;  an  expression  of  her 
highest  ideals;5  a  revelation  of  her  whole  soul.6  The  poet 
reflects  the  character  of  his  time;  he  stands  rooted  in  his 
century  like  a  tree  in  the  ground.7  But  his  poetry  also  goes 
far  beyond  its  time,  and  becomes  the  sure  prophetess  of  a 
nation's  future.  So  Herder  sees  the  prophetic  vision  of 
some  of  Stolberg's  "Iamben"  and  of  many  of  Klopstock's 
odes,  both  of  his  youth  and  of  his  later  years.8 

Thus  we  see  that  Klopstock,  the  first  great  German  poet, 
succeeded  in  establishing  an  exalted  and  substantial  position 
in  the  affairs  of  life  for  the  great  lineage  which  he  repre- 
sented, in  proving  that  German  genius  could  produce  origi- 
nal and  genuine  poetry.  He  created  a  new  world  of  thought, 
of  emotion,  and  happiness ;  became  a  teacher  of  truth  and 
beauty ;  a  judge  and  prophet  of  humanity  in  a  much  deeper 

1  Suphan  VIII,  405. 
2Suphan  VIII,  404. 

3  Suphan  VIII,  389. 

4  Suphan  II,  44    160    (1768). 

5  Suphan  XVIII,    136,    (1796). 

6  Suphan  XVIII,  58,    (1796). 
*  Suphan    II,   265,    (1768). 

8  Suphan  XVII,  67,   (1793). 


72  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

sense  than  the  mere  scholar  could  ever  hope  to  become. 
Herder  did  not  possess  that  spark  of  the  highest  talent 
which  gives  expression  to  original  poetry;  yet  in  the  field 
of  criticism  his  faculty  was  creative  and  eminently  produc- 
tive. Here  he  acted  as  an  interpreter  of  the  more  elevated 
genius,  as  individualized  in  Klopstock,  and  contributed  in  an 
impressive  degree  toward  creating  a  taste  for  true  art  and 
nature  in  Germany,  and  an  understanding  of  the  basic 
principles  of  original  production  in  the  field  of  literature. 
During  his  stay  in  Strassburg  Herder  introduced  young 
Goethe  to  Klopstock's  new  poetic  world,  and  inspired  his 
genius ;  he  filled  the  soul  of  the  man  who  was  to  become  the 
greatest  poet  of  Germany  with  a  keen  realization  of  the 
poet's  true  position  in  life  and  of  the  mission  of  poetry  for 
humanity.1 

1  See  Otto  Lyon,  pp.  84,  86,  102,  for  Herder's  influence  on  Goethe 
in  introducing  him  to  Klopstock.  See  Herder's  Nachlass  for 
Goethe's  letters  to  Herder  during  the  years  1771  and  1772. 


PART  II 

CHAPTER  II 
RELIGIOUS  VIEWS 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  present,  not  Herder's 
and  Klopstock's  theology  or  philosophical  system,  but  their 
religious  thought  as  a  part  of  the  new  German  culture. 

Whenever  the  church  in  its  ceremonies  so  emphasized 
form  and  dogma  at  the  expense  of  feeling  that  man's  re- 
ligious needs  were  no  longer  satisfied  by  its  teachings,  the 
spirit  of  protest  was  aroused  in  certain  gifted  individuals, 
who  then  either  attempted  to  reform  the  church  and  its 
doctrines,  as  in  the  great  Reformation  and  in  the  later 
Pietistic  movement,  or  else  sought  satisfaction  and  gave 
expression  to  their  religious  impulses  outside  the  organized 
church,  as  did  the  mystics  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries.  A  similar  spirit  of  protest  is  evident  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century, — a  period  in  which  all  sorts  of  religious 
sects  originated  and  flourished.  This  was  a  religious  age; 
faith  in  the  Bible  and  in  a  God,  who  was  conceived  as 
father,  protector,  and  comforter,  was  the  basis  of  its  belief. 
But  the  following  century  forsook  the  paths  of  pure  religion 
and  sought  to  find  a  solution  for  the  problem  of  the  uni- 
verse in  speculative  philosophy,  which,  breaking  away  from 
all    formal  tradition  and   superstition,    separated   theology 


74  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

from  religion.     This  philosophy  of  so-called  enlightenment, 
then,  took  the  place  of  the  older  religion. 

In  France,  with  Voltaire,  Helvetius,  and  Rousseau  as  in- 
tellectual leaders,  the  new  movement  was  religiously  destruc- 
tive; it  was  directed  against  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and 
the  church  itself ;  against  the  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christ 
and  in  the  immortality  of  man.  Out  of  this  the  French 
character  developed  an  exaggerated  self-consciousness  and 
egoism  which  considered  sensual  enjoyment  the  highest  and 
only  blessing,  and  completely  maimed  the  better  instincts  of 
the  human  heart.  For  the  Frenchman  of  greater  spiritual 
elevation  nothing  but  a  doctrine  of  nature-worship,  which 
regarded  only  the  visible  manifestation  of  nature,  remained 
to  satisfy  his  religious  cravings.1  On  the  other  hand,  with 
the  exception  of  Frederick  the  Great,  the  German  philoso- 
phers2 and  poets  were  not  inclined  to  take  up  this  sceptical 
and  materialistic  view  of  religion.  They  did  not  oppose 
formal  religion,  or  the  church  as  a  representative  of  formal- 
ity; but  the  old  spirit  of  Protestantism  animated  them,  and 
they  resented  the  intolerant  and  narrow  views  of  the  clergy 
and  of  school  orthodoxy,  which  emphasized  the  nothingness 
of  this  world  and  the  terribleness  of  eternal  damnation. 
They  felt  keenly  the  force  of  the  great  message  which  pure 
Christianity  had  to  deliver,  and  believed  it  their  duty  to 
uphold  this  great  religion  against  the  attacks  made  upon  it 
by  their  French  contemporaries.  They  aspired  to  find  a 
new  inner  relation  of  man  to  God  by  becoming  the  prophets 
of  a  new  life  with  freedom,  humanity,  and  love  as  its 
watchwords.  They  sought  the  invisible  sources  of  nature, 
aimed  to  find  God  in  his  own  creations;  to  awaken  the 
divine  in  man,  and  to  help  it  to  express  itself  in  vital,  noble 

iGelzer  I,  178ff. 

2  Men  like  Wolff,  Justus  Moser,  Baumgarten,  Michaelis,  and 
Ernesti. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  75 

activity.  Religion  was,  therefore,  not  considered  and  glori- 
fied as  dogma  alone,  but  also  as  poetry ;  indeed,  religion  and 
poetry  became  one. 

The  whole  renaissance  of  German  culture  and  literature 
*in  the  eighteenth  century  had  its  root  in  this  religious  en- 
thusiasm.1 The  poets  of  this  age  broke  away  from  the 
authority  of  church  tradition  and  dogma,  and  sought  God 
in  nature,  and  religion  in  the  human  heart.  They  voiced 
a  reaction  against  the  dangers  of  purely  speculative  philos- 
ophy, and  of  that  mockery  of  religion  which  had  arisen  in 
court  circles.2  They  aroused  feeling  and  imagination,  the 
fundamental  elements  of  all  true  poetry,  and  permitted  them 
to  play  a  part  in  man's  religious  experiences.  Brockes, 
Drollinger,  Haller,  Gellert,  Uz,  Liscow,  Rabener,  and 
Kastner,3  each  in  his  own  way,  attempted  to  find  God  in  the 
active  experience  of  life;  to  give  religion  a  live  role  in  the 
world  of  actuality  and  humanity  by  combining  it  with  poety. 
They  aimed  to  bring  about  a  harmony  between  the  finite 
and  the  infinite ;  between  God  and  man  in  the  beautiful. 

This  new  spirit,  which  animated  the  poets  of  Germany, 
received  its  most  perfect  expression  in  Klopstock's  "Mes- 
siah". Klopstock  himself  was  the  greatest  prophet  of  the 
new  gospel  of  humanity.4  In  Zurich  he  was  considered 
a  prophet  come  from  heaven,  and  "was  worshipped  as  much 
as  was  Mohammed  in  Medina".5  He  was  the  poet  of  the 
human  heart  in  its  strivings  after  a  noble  ideal;  and  his 
creative  work  was  to  bring  about  the  rejuvenation  of 
humanity. 

1  Burdach — "Schillers  Chordrama  und  die  Geburt  des  tragischen 
Stils  aus  der  Musik" — Deutsche  Rundschau,  Vol.  142,  p.  237.  Jan. 
to  Mar.,  1910.     9 

2  Erinnerungen  II,  231. 

3  See  Gelzer  I. 

4  "Der  Abschied"  (1748)—  "Ich  sang  den  Menschen  menschlich 
den   Ewigen". 

5  Gelzer   I,   177.    Letter   from   Schmidt  to   Gleim. 


76  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

When  only  twenty-one  years  of  age,  in  his  farewell- 
address  upon  leaving  Schulpforta,  Klopstock  presents  the 
fundamental  thoughts  of  his  religious  experiences,  which 
find  a  more  beautiful  expression  in  his  poetic  works.  He 
attempts  to  express  his  feelings  of  gratitude  to  God  ("ewige 
Gottheit").  But  at  the  contemplation  of  His  majesty,  he 
becomes  dismayed;  a  "holy  shudder"  passes  through  him 
and  leaves  him  speechless.  He  feels  the  insignificance  of 
one  human  soul  as  compared  with  the  divine  spirit.  Tears 
and  his  faltering  voice — coming  from  his  soul  transported 
in  rapture — are  proof  of  his  desire  to  express  his  love  and 
gratitude;  but  he  cannot  come  to  words.  'Man  cannot 
retrace  God's  footsteps  perfectly;  he  cannot  comprehend 
absolute  truth.  The  highest  wisdom  of  humanity  is  to  ac- 
quire but  a  trifle  of  truth,  and  to  worship  the  most  holy  of 
beings.  The  human  soul  comes  from  God;  it  is  part  of  the 
divine  spirit  and  is  immortal.  When  it  realizes  its  dignity 
and  dwells  in  a  healthy  body,  it  can  create  happiness  for 
itself  at  the  contemplation  of  the  glorious  world  of  nature. 
Piety  and  virtue  are  divine  qualities.  The  highest  merit 
man  can  attain  is  to  educate  and  uplift  his  fellowmen  by 
his  own  virtuous  example.'1  This  Klopstock  himself  at- 
tempted to  do  in  his  own  life  and  in  his  creative  works. 

Klopstock  considered  religion  an  essential  element  of  the 
highest  poetry.  In  "Von  der  heiligen  Poesie"  he  says :  "To 
move  the  whole  heart,  is  above  all,  in  every  kind  of  elo- 
quence, the  highest  aim  the  artist  can  set,  and  which  the 
hearer  may  demand  of  him.  To  do  this  by  means  of  re- 
ligion is  a  new  height,  which  for  us,  without  revelation,  is 
covered  with  clouds.  Here  the  poet  and  the  reader  may 
discover  with  certainty  whether  or  not  they  are  Christians. " 
'Both  he  who  thus  moves  our  whole  heart,  and  he  who 
responds  to  this  emotion,  must  have  some  inkling  of  divine 

1  "Klopstock  als  Mensch  und  als  Dichter",  pp.  74  to  84. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  77 

truth.  What  poet,  possessed  though  he  may  be  of  the 
happiest  genius,  can  touch  our  hearts  to  music  if  he  lacks 
a  real  feeling  for  religious  beauty  and  moral  purity?'1  It 
is  thus  evident  that  Klopstock  considered  the  religious  qual- 
ity of  the  "Messiah"  of  the  greatest  importance.  He  writes 
to  Bodmer  in  September,  1748:  "How  happy  I  shall  be,  if, 
when  the  'Messiah'  is  completed,  I  shall  have  contributed 
something  toward  the  glorification  of  our  divine  religion. 
These  thoughts  make  me  so  happy!  That  is  my  great  re- 
ward— ."2  Klopstock's  contemporaries,  too,  felt  the  power 
of  the  religion  taught  by  the  great  poem.  Funke  writes  to 
the  poet  from  Copenhagen,  December  18,  1758:  "Since  I 
consider  your  'Messiah'  less  as  a  masterpiece  of  human 
genius,  than  as  a  work  for  the  glory  of  religion  and  the  pro- 
pagation of  piety  and  virtue  in  more  than  one  age,  and  more 
than  one  nation;  since  I  am  convinced  how  great  a  deed  he 
does  who  animates  the  human  soul  with  one  pious  idea — "3 
In  the  odes,  "Friihlingsfeier"  (1759),  "Dem  Allgegen- 
wartigen"  (1758),  and  "Morgengesang  am  Schopfungstag" 
(1782),  Klopstock  makes  use  of  ideas  which  he  had  already 
r  expressed  in  the  Schulpforta  address  in  1745,  and  conducts 
his  reader  outside  the  walls  of  the  church  into  the  open, 
where  he  can  "feel"  God  in  the  wonderful  phenomena  of 
nature  and  receive  new  life.  He  emphasizes  again  and 
again  that  infinity  in  God  which  removes  him  far  aloof  from 
the  conception  of  man,  and  renders  even  the  trees,  streams, 
stars,  planets,  worlds,  however  they  may  rustle  and  roar, 
and  produce  harmonious  music,  powerless  to  express  all 
that  he  embraces.4     Thus,  while  the  poet  attempts  to  show 

1  Klopstock  X,  237,   (1760);  compare  p.  236. 

2  Weimar.   Jahrbuch  IV,  126. 

3  Elizabeth   Smith   II,   196. 

4  "An  Gott"  (1748);  "Dem  Erloser"  (1751);  "Der  Erbarmer" 
(1759);  "Dem  Unendlichen"  (1764);  "Das  grosse  Hallelujah" 
(1766). 


78  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

r 

how  vast  is  the  divine  spirit,  he  makes  the  old  God  of  the 
catechism  a  personal  deity,  and  replaces  a  vague  abstraction 
by  a  God  of  nature  and  of  life.  He  presents,  not  the  tradi- 
tional image  of  an  eternal  avenger,  but  a  father  of  love.1 
He  denies  eternal  damnation,  and  rescues  even  the  devil, 
Abbadonna,  in  the  "Messiah",  from  hell.  In  "Von  der 
besten  Art  iiber  Gott  zu  denken"  he  states  his  belief  that 
God  can  best  be  comprehended  through  the  emotions,  and 
can  never  be  reached  through  reason  and  speculation  alone. 

The  wonderful  effect  of  the  "Messiah"  upon  the  people 
of  his  day  proved  that  Klopstock's  religious  poem  satisfied 
the  needs  of  the  time;  his  poetry  became  religion  itself. 
One  example  will  suffice  to  show  this.  Schubart  writes  to 
Klopstock  from  Ulm  in  1775,  or  1776:  "I  recited  the  'Mes- 
siah' in  public  in  the  concert-hall  at  Augsburg.  I  began 
with  a  few  chosen  listeners  who  were  pleased  with  it.  The 
company  soon  became  much  too  large  for  my  little  room; 
then  the  magistrate  fitted  up  a  public  hall  for  me,  and  the 
size  of  my  audience  soon  rose  to  several  hundred.  All 
volumes  of  the  'Messiah',  both  original  prints  and  copies, 
available  in  the  town  were  soon  bought  up  ....  high  and 
low,  clergy  and  laity,  Catholics  and  Lutherans  came  to  the 
lecture  with  copies  of  the  'Messiah'  under  their  arms." 

"Oh,  that  was  a  festive  spectacle  to  see  all  sitting  there 
in  solemn  stillness;  to  see  how  their  emotions  were  stirred, 
and  how  they  broke  forth  into  expressions  of  admiration 
and  into  tears.     'Klopstock!'  resounded  from  all  lips  when 

each  lecture  was  finished In  Ludwigsburg  there  dwell 

some  tradesmen  (Handwerksleute)  who  read  the  'Messiah' 
as  a  devotional  manual,  and  who  rightfully  consider  it  the 
most  divine  book  next  to  the  Bible.  How  often  I  made 
those  people  happy,  and  how  happy  I  myself  became  with 
them ;  and  how  they  rewarded  me !  . . . .   You  see  how  much 

!"Der  Erbarmer"    (1759). 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  79 

I  am  indebted  to  you,  most  excellent  of  men!  In  return  I 
shall  always  love  you  and  treasure  you;  and  when  I  die, 
I  wish  a  copy  of  the  'Messiah'  laid  on  my  bosom  and  buried 
with  me." 

"Experience  has  taught  me  that  the  more  pious,  the  more 
chaste,  the  more  naive  the  heart  of  a  man  is,  the  greater 
the  effect  of  my  declamation  of  the  'Messiah'.  I  have  read 
your  'Messiah'  wholly  or  in  part  to  princes,  men  of  state, 
military  officers,  court  ladies,  priests,  lawyers,  physicians, 
virtuosos,  tradesmen,  peasants,  women  and  girls  at  the 
spinning-wheel  and  sewing  table,  and  I  have  always  found 
that  he  who  was  most  impressed  by  my  reading  was  of  the 
noblest  heart.  And  that  will  always  be  true  even  if  the 
tongues  and  hands  of  all  critics  of  this  and  later  times  should 
become  useless  forever. — Just  as  long  as  your  'Messiah' 
increases  in  favor  among  us,  just  so  long,  I  believe,  our 
nation  will  progress, — and  it  is  progressing  now."1 

Klopstock's  poetry  aims  to  make  humanity  better  spirit- 
ually and  morally;  to  elevate  man  to  a  higher  plane  of  life 
by  making  him  realize  his  full  humanity. 

"Reines  Herzens,  das  sein,  es  ist  die  letzte 
Steilste  Hohe  von  dem,  was  Weis'  ersannen 
Weisre  thaten".— "Fur  den  Konig",  1753. 

He  therefore  dwells  upon  a  nobility  of  character  which  ex- 
presses itself  in  deeds,  in  contradistinction  to  mere  goodness 
of  soul,  which  is  passive  and  negative  and  may  be  accom- 
Vpanied  by  mediocre  ability.     He  alone  is  noble,2  he  alone 

1  Lappenberg,  p.  268. 

2  Schulpforta  Address  (1745) — "Klopstock  als  Mensch  und  als 
Dichter",  p.  82.  "Der  Messiah",  I,  20,  652;  III,  214,  262;  IV,  798, 
1250;  VI,  351;  X,  384;  XI,  1043;  XVII,  529;  XVIII,  804.  "Salem", 
(1748);  "Friedensburg",  (1750);  "An  Gleim"  (1752);  "Fur  den 
Konig"  (1753);  "Friedrich  der  Fiinfte"  (1750);  "Die  beiden 
Musen"  (1752);  "Der  Hugel  und  der  Hain"  (1767);  "Wink" 
(1778);  "Freude  und  Leid"    (1798). 


80  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

possesses  true  sublimity,  who  combines  high  spritual  powers 
with  innate  virtue.  Klopstock  considers  it  the  real  task  of 
the  poet  to  give  expression  to  such  a  high  nobility  of  soul 
in  his  work,  and  thus  to  conduct  others  along  a  similar 
path.1  The  highest  goal  of  poetry — "moral  beauty"2 — is 
to  pour  great  thoughts  into  the  human  heart  and  to  ele- 
vate the  soul.3  The  true  poet  must  raise  us  above  our  nar- 
row way  of  thinking  and  rescue  us  from  the  stream  (of 
the  common-place)  which  bears  us  along.3 

In  "Von  dem  Range  der  schonen  Kunste  und  der  schonen 
Wissenschaften",  Klopstock  defines  the  duty  of  religion  in 
the  service  of  the  nation:  "A  nation,  which,  through  agri- 
culture, commerce,  good  laws,  and  that  philosophy  (Wis- 
senschaft)  which  one  has  grown  accustomed  to  call  the 
higher  philosophy  (it  ought  to  be  called  theology  alone), 
has  become  great,  is  fortunate  (glucklich)  !  But  is  it  a 
blessed  (gluckselige)  nation?  Not  until  it  is  also  virtuous 
(tugendhaft).  And  by  what  means  can  it  become  so?  By 
religion  and  those  moral  truths  which  religion  has  left  to  be 
solved  by  human  understanding."4 

An  early  contemporary  characterization  (1747-48)  of 
Klopstock  reveals  the  fact  that  people  recognized  in  his  own 
person  those  noble  qualities  which  he  hoped  to  awaken  in 
others  by  his  poetry, — "He  possesses  such  an  honest  and 
noble  heart,  that  he  can  be  aroused  even  by  the  mere  sem- 
blance of  a  base  and  ignoble  action.  A  deed  which  betrays 
an  evil  heart  has  such  a  power  over  him  that  his  disgust 
finds  expression  in  his  countenance.  He  so  hates  mean 
and  foolish  people  that  he  avoids  them  whenever  he  can."5 

i"Der   Hiigel   und   der   Ham"    (1767). 

2  "Von  der  heiligen  Poesie",  X,  346,  (1760). 

3  "Der  Messias",   IV,   504. 

4  "Von  der  heilegen   Poesie",  X,  346,    (1760). 
5Quellen  und  Forschungen,  Vol  39,  p.  70. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  81 

Such  was  the  poet's  character  in  youth.  Dr.  Mummsen 
writes  to  Elizabeth  Smith  from  Altona,  July  2,  1805,  and 
gives  a  picture  of  Klopstock  during  his  last  years : — "I  who 
saw  him  every  day  when  in  Hamburg,  found  him  always  in 
pursuit  of  whatever  is  noble,  sublime  and  beautiful.  He 
was  a  most  agreeable  companion.  We  used  to  call  him 
4Den  ewigen  Jungling',  the  youth  forever!  He  has  lived 
free  all  his  life  time,  and  has  recommended  liberty  on  all 
occasions ! .  . .  .  He  kept  up  his  gentle  spirit,  his  religious 
principles,  and  his  serenity  of  mind,  till  the  end  of  his  life."1 

Elizabeth  Smith  quotes  from  Horn's  Critical  History  of 
German  Poetry  and  Eloquence  (printed  at  Berlin  in  1805)  : 
"We  may  observe  in  Klopstock  three  equally  excellent  traits 
of  character  which  are  displayed  in  his  poems — patriotism, 
warmth  of  friendship,  and  pure  religion ;  .  . .  .  Klopstock's 
piety,  in  its  full  extent,  as  it  influenced  both  his  heart  and 
his  understanding,  may  clearly  be  discovered  in  his  odes, 
'The  Omnipotent',  'Contemplation  of  God',  and  in  the  plan 
of  the  'Messiah'.  When  we  contemplate  this  last  in  all  its 
dignity  and  grandeur,  and  at  the  same  time  consider  the 
courage  which  was  requisite  in  order  to  adopt  it  as  the  sub- 
ject of  an  epic  poem,  we  shall  even  on  this  account  alone, 
bestow  on  Klopstock  the  title  of  a  great  poet.  The  recep- 
tion the  'Messiah'  found  in  Germany  was  adequate  to  its 
merits;  we  congratulated  ourselves  on  a  work  which  the 
most  sacred  spirit  had  inspired,  and  the  admiration  which 
was  excited  by  this  extraordinary  poet  restrained  the  frivo- 
lous criticism  with  which  the  Gottingen  school  had  presumed 
to  attack  his  work."2 

As  late  as  1824,  in  an  address  delivered  at  Schulpforta 
upon  the  centenary  celebration  of  Klopstock's  birth,  Karl 
Chr.  Gottlieb  Schmidt  emphasizes  the  moral  effect  of  the 

1  Elizabeth  Smith  II,  47. 

2  Elizabeth  Smith  II,  30— (Quotation  in  English). 


82  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

"Messiah".  He  considers  Klopstock  the  most  sublime  of 
German  poets,  "whose  song  had  a  powerful  and  blessed 
influence  on  the  hearts  of  humanity,  and  will  continue  to 
have  such  an  effect  as  long  as  the  German  language  is 
alive.  His  song  has  uplifted  many  hearts  above  the  earthly 
and  sensual  to  God;  has  bettered  them;  strengthened  and 
comforted,  and  fired  them  to  noble  deeds ;  filled  them  with  a 
love  for  the  fatherland ;  has  inspired  many  a  youth,  so  that 
he  fought  against  his  enemy  and  himself  with  greater  happi- 
ness and  strength,  and  conquered  at  last.1  ....  He  sought 
to  arouse  and  nourish  the  noblest  feelings/'2 

Just  as  in  Klopstock's,  so  in  Herder's  life,  feeling  dom- 
inated over  reason,3  and  his  love  for  nature4  was  as  strong 
as  his  love  for  books.  He  himself  tells  us  in  the  "Reise- 
journal"5  (1769)  :  "A  feeling  for  the  sublime  is  the  natural 
bent  (Wendung)  of  my  soul;  my  love,  my  hate,  my  admir- 
ation, my  dreams  of  happiness  and  misfortune,  my  purpose 
to  live  in  the  world,  my  expression,  my  style,  my  demeanor, 
my  countenance,  my  conversation,  my  occupation, — every- 
thing is  determined  by  it.  My  love !  how  closely  it  borders 
on  the  sublime  ....  how  a  misfortune,  the  tear  of  a  friend, 
can  move  me !  ....  This  accounts  for  my  predilection  for 
speculation  and  for  the  'sombre'  in  philosophy,  in  poetry, 
in  prose  (Erzahlungen),  and  in  thought!  This  accounts  for 
my  fondness  for  the  shades  of  antiquity  and  for  the  remote 
past! — for  my  love  for  the  Hebrews  as  a  people;  for  the 
Greeks,  Egyptians,  Celts,  Scots,  etc.  This  explains  my  first 
occupations ;  the  dreams  of  a  water-world  of  my  youth ;  the 

1  "Klopstock  als  Mensch  und  als  Dichter",  p.  15. 

2  "Klopstock  als   Mensch  und  als  Dichter",   p.  16. 

3  Suphan  XXIX,  695.  Herder  to  Countess  Christine  Briihl 
(1784)  :  "Such  is  the  life-history  of  mankind, — not  idea,  it  is 
feeling." 

4  Erinnerungen  I,  211,  222. 

5  Suphan   IV,   438. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  83 

love  of  my  garden;  my  solitary  walks;  my  shuddering 
(Schauder)  at  psychological  discoveries,  and  at  new 
thoughts  which  arose  out  of  my  soul;  my  half  intelligible, 
half  obscure  style ;  .  . .  .  everything !  My  life  is  a  passage 
through  Gothic  vaults,  or  at  least  through  an  allee  of  green 
shades.  The  view  is  always  venerable  and  sublime;  the 
entrance  was  dark  and  forbidding  (eine  Art  Schauder); 
however,  I  shall  feel  another  sort  of  distraction  (Verwir- 
rung),  when  suddenly  the  allee  opens  and  I  find  myself  in 
the  open.  Now  it  is  my  duty  to  make  use  of  these  im- 
pressions to  the  best  of  my  ability;  to  cultivate  still  my 
wealth  of  reflection,  but  also  to  notice  the  sun  which  breaks 
through  the  leaves,  and  paints  more  beautiful  shadows ;  to 
give  heed  to  the  song-filled  meadows  (mit  ihrem  Getummel)  ; 
always,  however,  to  remain  in  the  onward  passage.  The  last 
simile  was  impressed  upon  me  especially  in  the  woods  at 

Nantes I  felt  myself  so  filled  with  great  thoughts,  that 

I  could  imagine  the  experiences  of  the  Savior  in  his  greatest 
triumphs;  then  I  glanced  up  and  saw  the  allee  like  a  green 
temple  of  the  Almighty  before  me,  and  there  arose  within 
me  echoes  from  Kleist's  hymn  ....  and  then  I  read  again, 
and  saw  the  sun  through  the  leaves,  heard  the  distant 
turmoil  of  the  city  and  thought  of  those  who  were  in 
possession  of  my  heart,  and  wept !  Thither  shall  my  spirit 
journey  back  when  I  read  Marmontel's  first  chapters,  and 
Thomas  Daquesceau,  and  when  I  am  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Messiah  and  delineate  a  life  of  Jesus." 

This  great  sympathy  with  nature  and  love  for  the  noble 
and  beautiful  found  birth  in  Herder's  early  youth  in  his 
father's  garden  where  he  received  his  first  deep  impressions 
of  nature  and  religion,  and  of  the  greatness  of  the  human 
soul.1    He  was  a  quiet,  imaginative  youth  with  a  rpost  delicate 

1  Erinnerungen  I,  22,   16,   18,   20,   21. 


84  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

sense  for  the  sublime.1  All  these  traits  were  nourished  by 
the  healthy  mysticism  which  characterized  the  religion  of 
the  Herder  family.  Young  Gottfried's  first  volumes  of 
instruction  were  the  Bible  and  the  hymnal.  Besides  satis- 
fying his  religious  needs,  these  two  books  aroused  his  love 
and  understanding  for  the  Orient,  as  the  primitive  spot  of 
man's  dwelling,  and  for  poetry;  they  gave  his  historical, 
poetic  sense  its  first  impulse.2  Thus  we  may  say  that  in 
Herder's  early  years  the  foundation  was  laid  for  his  later 
great  work  as  critic  and  evangelist  of  humanity. 

In  Koenigsberg  Herder  came  under  the  influence  of 
deistic  philosophy,  and  received  instruction  in  the  Wolff- 
Leibniz  school  from  his  professors,  Lilienthal  and  Kant.3 
But  Herder  was  not  a  rationalist  by  nature,4  and  these  the- 
ories did  not  satisfy  him.  He  found  a  more  helpful  teacher 
in  Hamann,  who,  although  a  disciple  of  "enlightenment", 
believed  that  through  his  emotional  nature  man  can  most 
perfectly  comprehend  God;  his  was  a  philosophy  of  intro- 
spection and  feeling,  and  this  became  the  basis  of  Herder's 
religion  of  real  experience  and  inner  freedom.  At  the  same 
time,  we  will  recall,  the  young  critic  learned  from  his  great 
teacher  to  recognize  the  divine  qualities  of  the  human  soul, 
as  exemplified  in  the  creative  genius,  and  saw  the  marvelous 
effect  of  such  power  in  the  works  of  the  English  dramatist, 
Shakespeare,  and  of  the  German  poet,  Klopstock.  Here 
in  Koenigsberg,  even  thus  early  in  his  career,  Herder  prac- 
tised his  religion  and  diffused  everywhere  the  influence  of 
his  personality;  his  friends  recognized  that  "the  spirit  of 
religion  and  humanity  surrounded  him  at  all  times."5 

1  Erinnerungen   I,   34,   38,  42,   45. 

2  Erinnerungen  I,  70. 

3  Erinnerungen  I,  56. 

4  Erinnerungen    I,    101. 

5  Erinnerungen  I,  63.  Herr  Kurella  to  Pastor  Puttlich,  (Apr. 
2,  1805). 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  85 

In  Riga,  as  the  years  brought  added  experience,  Herder 
recognized  more  and  more  how  unsympathetic  speculative 
philosophy  is  with  practical  life,  and  how  little  it  appeals 
to  the  heart;  he  sought  a  philosophy  of  experience  which 
would  combine  feeling  and  reason.  He  says  in  a  sermon: 
"The  Creator  has  given  us  enough  reasoning  power  to 
enable  us  to  distinguish  evil  from  good,  and  to  become 
happy;  but  not  enough  to  enable  us  to  philosophize  away 
(hinweggriibeln)  all  the  bright  illusions  of  existence  and 
make  us  unhappy.  We  may  thank  the  Creator  that  we 
have  enough  light  to  continue  on  the  way  of  life,  but  also 
that  he  kept  from  us  a  light  which  would  blind  us  and 
make  us  unsteady.  Let  reason  be  our  guiding  star;  but, 
Oh  God,  teach  me  ever  to  be  human  also ; — then  I  shall  be 
happy."1  In  1767  he  writes  to  Kant  that  "human  philoso- 
phy" is  his  dearest  occupation;2  "der  Mensch"  (humanity) 
is  his  goal  in  his  search  for  truth,  and  his  philosophy  is 
based  upon  life.3 

In  his  conception  of  religion  Herder  very  early  inclined 
toward  "enlightenment"  rather  than  toward  the  older 
Christianity;  he  recognized  the  importance  of  a  knowledge 
of  history  in  the  study  of  religion.  He  was  as  opposed 
to  the  traditional  God  of  the  catechism  as  to  the  metaphysi- 
cal God  of  philosophy.  He  turned  to  books  which  breathe 
the  spirit  of  nature,  and  read  them  in  the  open  to  dispel  the 
false  deity  worshipped  by  reason;4  to  the  study  of  history, 
to  drive  out  the  phantoms  of  churchly  form.5     He  would 

i  Suphan  XXXII,  471. 

2  Erinnerungen    III,    150. 

3  Erinnerungen  I,   I,  88,  97. 

4  Erinnerungen  I,  69.  In  1769  Herder  terms  Klopstock  the  most 
sacred  of  poets,  and  his  "Messiah"  the  most  sacred  of  poems. 
Suphan  III,  244. 

SLebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  486. 


86  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

treat  the  Bible  as  the  "hermeneutics  of  Christianity",1  and 
believes  that,  to  understand  it  fully,  one  must  treat  it  histor- 
ically as  any  other  book.  One  must  attempt,  he  says,  to 
grasp  the  spirit  of  its  authors;  of  the  public  which  read  it; 
of  the  nation  which  it  represents ; — one  must  try  to  interpret 
its  own  spirit.  He  considers  it  an  "ancient,  oriental,  poet- 
ical, national,  and  popular  piece",  which  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered a  vital  example  of  traditional  composition,  and  not 
a  judicial  (gerichtliches)  testament.1  The  story  of  the  cre- 
ation of  the  world  is  the  most  sacred  poem  of  antiquity, — 
the  oldest  production  springing  from  the  dawn  of  time;2 
like  all  mythological,  national  songs,  it  was  colored  by  the 
religion  of  the  land  which  gave  it  birth;  by  the  traditions 
of  the  fathers  of  that  land,  and  its  national  ideas.'3  Such 
was  Herder's  conception  of  the  Bible  while  still  in  Riga. 
He  never,  however,  depreciated  its  value  as  a  most  vital 
force  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  the  human  race. 
In  1775  he  defines  it  as  the  history  of  God  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  the  world;  'we  do  not  comprehend  all 
of  it  any  more  than  we  do  nature,  but  we  can  understand 
enough  of  it  to  make  us  believe  and  hope,  and  to  move  us 
to  noble  activity.  As  time  goes  on,  the  history  of  man's 
labors  on  earth  becomes  longer,  and  the  more  easily  he  will 
interpret  the  Bible.'4  In  1802  Herder  calls  the  Scriptures  a 
collection  of  the  books  of  an  ancient  people ;  he  still  empha- 
sizes the  importance  of  its  study,  and  says  the  more  im- 
portant its  contents,  the  more  it  deserves  critical,  historical 
investigation.5 

In  his  early  religious  writings,  between  1766  and  1769, 

1  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  462. 
2Lebensbild   I,  3,   a,  p.  516. 

3  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  pp.  390,  459,  464,  556. 

4  Erinnerungen   III,   161. 
sSuphan  XXIV,  98,  180. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  87 

Herder  presents  the  fundamental  ideas  of  his  religion,  just 
as  Klopstock  had  done  as  a  youth  in  his  address  at  Schul- 
pforta.  Herder  considers  man  a  "divine,  ennobled  creature 
(Thier)  !  an  image  of  Elohim!  an  earthly,  visible  God  of 
creatures!1  He  rules  in  his  kingdom2  in  the  image  of  the 
Eternal.3  His  noble  spirit,  which  loves  the  sublime  and 
great  and  despises  the  dust  of  earth,  causes  him  to  reach 
heavenward.4  In  his  activities,  in  science,  art,  and  inven- 
tion, man  becomes  an  imitator  of  the  Deity,  and  thus  a 
second  creator.5  Herder  considers  the  human  soul  a  divin- 
ity in  us;  the  God  in  us  and  the  God  over  us  create  the 
same  world.6  Thus  great  discoverers  and  great  philoso- 
phers, like  Newton  and  Leibniz,  are  messengers  of  the  Eter- 
nal to  the  human  race,  because  they  disclose  the  truth.7 
God  gave  man  this  divine  power  to  penetrate  nature;8  but 
man  can  never  hope  to  fathom  the  universe  to  its  depths; 
the  very  moment  he  should  succeed  in  doing  so,  his  human 
soul  would  become  one  with  the  soul  of  the  Infinite.'9  Her- 
der believes  that  the  difference  between  God  and  the  human 
soul  is  only  a  difference  of  degree. 

In  the  essay,  "Der  Redner  Gottes",  of  1765,  Herder  pre- 
sents his  picture  of  the  really  great  preacher  of  religion. 
'He  must  be  a  son  of  wisdom,  educated  in  a  knowledge  of 
life,  who  teaches  virtue,  morality,  and  religion;  he  does  not 
make  use  of  Biblical  language  in  his  sermons,  but  leads  his 

1  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  449.  Later,  1787,  (XIV,  210):  "God 
made  man  a  God  on  earth." 

2  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  452. 

3  Lebensbild   I,   3,   a,   pp.  493,  508. 
4Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  493. 

5  Lebensbild   I,   3,   a,   p.   453. 

6  Compare  Suphan  XXIX,  566,  (1788).  Nachlass  II,  264— To 
Jacobi,  December,   1784. 

^  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  541. 

8  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  pp.  450,  540. 

9  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  539. 


88  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

congregation  into  the  true  contents  of  the  Bible  as  into  a 
holy  of  holies,  and  brings  them  into  direct  relation  with 
that  spirit  which  animated  all  great  religious  souls/1  Four 
years  later  he  announces  that  he  is  determined  to  make  his 
sermons,  addresses,  and  essays  "human",  because  the  human 
heart  opens  alone  to  him  who  can  move  it.2  He  would  give 
the  catechism  an  appeal  to  his  own  time,  so  its  interpreters 
need  not  preach  like  the  prophets,  psalmists,  and  apostles.3 
Herder  believed  the  Heidelberg  catechism  of  little  use  for 
his  day.  The  older  generations  distilled  from  the  Bible  a 
catechism  adapted  in  language  and  thought  to  their  own  age ; 
and  he  believed  that  with  just  as  much  right  could  the 
younger  generation  make  a  catechism  suited  to  its  own 
needs.  The  present  was  just  as  sacred  to  him  as  the  past — 
and  even  more  so,  because  man  lives  in  the  present  and  for 
the  future.4  In  Riga  as  in  Koenigsberg,  young  Herder  so 
practised  his  religion  that  the  youths  who  came  into  contact 
with  him  looked  upon  him  as  their  Christ.5 

Herder  always  considered  harmful  all  formal  methodism 
in  the  sacred  relation  of  the  human  heart  to  the  Highest 
Being,  if  it  prescribed  the  same  road  for  all  and  disregarded 
all  other  ways.6  In  Riga  he  once  said :  "Instead  of  making 
my  religion  and  the  mythology  of  highly  organized  nations 
the  main  end,  I  shall  always  find  more  of  value  (Nahrung) 
in  the  simplest  religion  of  savages,  which  ,  close  to  nature, 
shows  less  of  the  poet  but  more  of  human  kind.  The  sim- 
plest, oldest  religions  lay  bare  the  bosom  of  humanity."7 
He  recognized  that  a  religion  of  the  heart  is  fundamentally 

1  Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  83. 
2Suphan  IV,  368,   (1769). 
3Suphan    IV,    442,    (1769). 

4  Preuss.    Jahrbucher,  Vol.  XXIX,  159.     Caroline  to  G.  Miiller. 

5  Erinnerungen  I,  211. 

6  Erinnerungen  III,  211. 

7  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  381. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  89 

the  same  all  over  the  earth  and  is  free  from  external  form 
and  dogma.  'Man  is  really  man  when  he  acts  according  to 
instinct  and  not  to  enforced  rule;  the  same  is  true  of  gen- 
uine poetry/1  Toetry  lives  in  the  heart  of  the  human  race, 
whose  basic  human  qualities  are  always  the  same.  The 
greatest  poetry  is  an  "opening  of  the  human  sour' ;  an  un- 
folding of  man's  inner  nature, — subtle  thoughts,  fiery 
images,  and  visions  of  the  future/2  Herder,  therefore, 
believes  that  religion,  a  matter  of  the  heart,  has  the  greatest 
right  to  draw  upon  the  beauty  and  charm  of  poetry  and 
music,  as  did  the  mythological  tales  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans.3  He  points  out  the  human  touch  which  the  poet 
of  the  first  book  of  Moses  brought  out  in  describing  the 
joy  of  the  Creator  at  having  made  light  out  of  darkness, — 
light  being  symbolical  of  the  good,  the  beautiful,  and  the 
joyous,  in  its  opposition  to  the  horror  of  eternal  night.  To 
make  clear  how  fearful  night  was  to  the  people  for  whom 
the  Biblical  poet  wrote,  and  why  he  used  it  as  a  symbol  of 
evil,  Herder  recalls  the  effect  upon  the  reader  of  the  in- 
human and  awful  deed  which  is  performed  at  mid-night  in 
Shakespeare's  "Macbeth".  He  places  a  poet  of  antiquity, 
inspired  by  religion,  together  with  a  modern  genius,  inspired 
by  the  poetic  muse.4 

Just  as  Klopstock  had  done  in  his  poetry,  Herder  would 
conduct  man  into  the  great  temple  of  nature  whose  vault 
is  heaven  and  whose  trumpeters  are  the  stars  and  planets.5 
He  believes  that  religion  becomes  glorified  in  nature  as  well 
as  nature  in  religion.6     He,  too,  recognizes  the  necessity 

1  Lebensbild   I,   3,    a,   pp.   392f. 
2Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  472. 
^Suphan   II,   59. 

4  Lebensbild   I,   3,  a,  p.   424. 

5  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  570. 

6 Lebensbild  I,  565.  Compare  later:  Lebensbild  III,  p.  111. 
Suphan  XIII  15.  (1784).  Nachlass  II,  279,  (1785);  264  (1784); 
255   (1784). 


90  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

that  man  feels  for  expressing  his  nobility  in  deeds.  His 
divine  nature  is  not  revealed  in  mere  dreams  of  the  future 
and  in  idle  speculations,  but  in  some  noble  activity,  which 
constitutes  the  fulfillment  of  his  mission.1  Herder  also 
realized  very  early  (1768)  the  importance  of  religion  to  the 
state  in  strengthening  the  bond  which  unites  a  king  to  his 
subjects.2 

In  his  farewell  sermon  in  Riga  (1769)  Herder  expresses 
his  gospel  of  humanity:  "On  God  depends  our  whole  ex- 
istence, here  on  earth  and  in  eternity.  We  came  from  Him, 
live  under  His  care,  and  shall  sometime,  sooner  or  later, 
return  to  Him.  He  gave  us  our  being,  and  with  it  all  our 
capacity  for  happiness  and  usefulness  in  the  world.  He 
gave  us  duties  to  perform:  duties  which  are  bound  up  so 
closely  with  our  nature,  that  without  them  our  happiness 
cannot  exist.  He  gave  us  our  knowledge  and  taught  man 
'what  he  knows';  He  permitted  us,  when  our  nature  had 
degenerated,  to  return  to  happiness  and  to  His  mercy, 
through  the  redemption  of  Jesus;  He  lent  us  a  high,  divine 
assistance  in  order  that  we  might  again  reach  the  original 
dignity  of  our  nature  and  happiness.  Everything  which 
can  make  human  souls  happy  depends  upon  God,  ....  our 
strivings  to  be  perfect  as  He,  ....  our  Holy  Scriptures  were 
given  us  by  God,  and  are  a  means  of  making  us  happy  .... 
my  words  were  not  human,  but  divine  words,  to  lead  human 
souls  to  happiness."  .  . .  . 3 

Thus  far  we  have  traced  Herder's  religious  experiences 
through  the  time  of  his  residence  in  Riga.  We  will  recall 
it  was  here,  too,  that  he  read  to  his  friends,  and  probably  to 
his  congregation,  those  unpublished  parts  of  the  "Messiah" 

iLebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  509. 
2Suphan  XXXI,  43,    (1768). 
3Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  71,    (1769). 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  91 

which  he  was  able  to  secure,1  just  as  he  read  parts  of  it 
later  to  his  circle  of  friends  in  Darmstadt.2  Elizabeth 
Smith  probably  had  Herder  in  mind  when  she  wrote  con- 
cerning the  "Messiah":  "Young  preachers  quoted  it  from 
the  pulpit;  and  Christian  readers  loved  it,  as  a  book  that 
afforded  them,  amidst  the  rage  of  controversy  some  scope 
for  devout  feeling."3  Herder  undoubtedly  received  from 
Klopstock's  poetry,  in  addition  to  mere  aesthetic  enjoyment, 
a  great  deal  of  inspiration  in  the  furtherance  of  his  gospel 
of  humanity.  In  referring  in  an  outline,  made,  in  1768, 
for  the  study  of  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  to 
Genesis  I,  1  to  3,  he  makes  use  of  the  note,  "So  gross  und 
weit  als  eine  Klopstock'sche  Aussicht"4  (As  broad  and  vast 
a  view  as  the  eye  of  Klopstock  can  see).  Here  again  he 
compares  the  old  Biblical  poet  with  a  modern  genius;  but 
this  time  with  a  poet  of  his  own  people  whose  inspiration 
was  religion  also,  and  whose  imagination  succeeded  in 
creating  visions  equally  great  and  exalted.5 

After  the  year  1769  Herder's  religion  leans  more  toward 
mysticism;  not,  however,  toward  that  melancholy,  pietistic 
form  of  it  which  he  saw,  while  still  a  boy,  in  Trescho,  who 
probably  aroused  in  him  an  antagonism  for  this  inner  re- 
ligion of  the  heart.  We  will  recall  how  closely  his  soul 
felt  itself  a  part  of  nature  in  the  woods  at  Nantes,  and  this 
identification  with  the  great  world  about  him  has  deepened 
his  inner  life  and  reawakened  that  healthy  mysticism  which 
characterized  the  religion  of  his  childhood.6  He  writes  to 
Caroline,  September  20,  1770:  "But  what  is  richer  and  more 
inexhaustible  and  more  manifold  than  the  world  of  a  human 

1  Erinnerungen    I,    114. 

2  Erinnerungen    I,    154. 

3  Elizabeth   Smith  II,   19,    (1810). 

4  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a.    Found  quoted  again  in  Suphan  XXXII,  163. 
5Lebensbild   I,  3,   a,  p.  394. 

6  Erinnerungen  I,  28.     Lebensbild  I,  pp.  25,  148,  151. 


92  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

heart! — And  what  is  more  infinite  than  the  ever-changing 
diversity  of  nature  I"1  Herder  believes  in  a  mysterious,  pro- 
phetic power  which  passes  like  a  flash  of  lightning  through 
the  human  soul.2  He  thinks  every  person  possesses  a  gen- 
ius, that  is,  a  certain  divine  gift,  in  the  deepest  recesses  of 
his  soul,  which  guides  him, — a  light,  which,  if  one  would 
follow  it  and  not  allow  one's  reasoning  powers  to  put  it 
out,  would  be  the  greatest  power  for  good.3 

When  Herder  first  came  to  Biickeburg  on  May  28,  1771, 
he  was  considered  by  some  a  most  enlightened  thinker,4  and 
by  others  a  mysticist.  A  certain  sect,  called  Bohmists,  even 
believed  him  one  of  their  number  and  asked  him  to  attend 
several  of  their  meetings.  But  Herder  was  unfriendly 
toward  all  sects,  and  could  not  become  reconciled  to  any 
binding  religious  views.  After  instilling  a  greater  freedom 
of  belief  into  their  souls  than  they  had  ever  before  known, 
he  withdrew  from  their  circles.5  This  liberal  spirit  which 
he  carried  with  him  soon  invaded  all  other  circles.  A  half 
year  after  his  coming  the  Countess  Maria  of  Biickeburg,  who 
became  Herder's  great  friend,  writes  to  him  (January  1, 
1772)  :  "You  have,  I  am  sure,  in  the  short  time  you  have 
been  here,  led  many  a  heart  to  better  living  and  reflection."6 

Through  the  Countess,  Herder  became  increasingly  recon- 
ciled with  the  spirit  of  mysticism,  and  better  acquainted  with 
the  writings  of  the  religious  enthusiasts,  all  of  which,  not 
excluding  those  of  Jacob  Bohme,  he  read ;  he  respected  this 

1  Erinnerungen  I,  165.  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  111.  To  Merk, 
Sept.,  1770, — Herder  considers  "Weltgeist"  the  greatest  name  for 
God. 

2  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  215— To  Caroline  (1770). 

3  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  218— to  Caroline,  (Sept  22,  1770).  See 
Erinnerungen  I,  165. 

4  Erinnerungen  II,  24. 

5  Aus  dem  Herderschen  Hause,  p.  53.  Nachlass  II,  133.  To 
Lavater,  May,  1775.  Herder  says  he  prefers  mysticists  to  Wolffian 
philosophers. 

6  Erinnerungen  II,  65. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  93 

form  of  religion  very  highly,  but  did  not  consider  it  rep- 
resentative of  the  truth  he  sought.1  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Countess  was  released  by  his  agency  from  a  depressingly 
narrow  creed;  he  led  her  from  a  mystic-pietistic,  ascetic 
methodism,  with  which  she  had  been  acquainted  from  youth, 
to  freer,  more  comprehensive  views  of  the  ways  and  works 
of  God.2  He  brought  her  happiness  and  peace.3  Herder 
writes  to  her  in  1774:  "The  spirit  of  Jesus,  unselfishness 
and  love  of  God,  is  no  spirit  of  fear,  but  of  freedom  and 
joy."4  One  year  later  the  Countess  writes  to  her  friend 
and  pastor:  "Of  what  concern  are  Quietism,  Pietism,  Mo- 
hammed, Jew,  Heathen,  and  all  the  rest  to  me?  Where 
the  spirit  of  God  dwells,  do  I  care  what  external  garb  it 
displays?  I  do  not  desire  the  garment,  but  the  life  and 
substance  of  religion ;  I  have  trusted  Herder  for  a  long  time 
to  give  me  nothing  else,  and  to  conduct  me  to  the  true 
light.  I  do  not  even  understand  all  of  these  terms ;  I  hardly 
know  the  misused  names."5 

As  a  consequence  of  this  deepening  of  his  inner  life  the 
question  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  occupies  Herder's 
mind  during  his  years  in  Biickeburg.  He  can  find  no  proof 
of  a  future  life  in  the  Bible ;  it  has  revealed  nothing  except- 
ing what  refers  to  our  moral  sense,  to  our  humanity.  The 
book  of  Revelations  he  considers  a  poetic  book  which  he 
cannot  understand.  He  finds  no  dogma  of  eternal  life. 
'How  silently  Jesus  taught  eternity/  He  had  to  tell  of 
the  resurrection,  because  the  Jews  demanded  that  from  him 
as  a  Messiah;  but  he  colors  it  with  moral  value.  Any 
teaching  of  a  future  world  must  refer  to  this  life,  encourage 

i  Erinnerungen  III,   190,  231. 

2  Erinnerungen   II,   62. 

3  Erinnerungen  II,  36.  Preuss.  Jahrb.,  XXIX,  30.  Aus  dem 
Herderschen  Hause,  pp.  VI,  X,  XXII. 

4  Erinnerungen  II,  115. 

5  Erinnerungen  II,  128. 


94  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

us,  and  moving  our  moral  sense,  awaken  the  future  angel 
within  us.  Thus  it  will  unite  every  good  soul  with  eternity.1 
The  spirit  of  God  writes  immortality  into  our  hearts.  The 
human  soul  feels  it  is  immortal;  it  does  not  need  proof/2 
Thus,  too,  Herder  believes  morality  cannot  be  forced  upon 
us;  it  must  grow  in  us  and  become  part  of  us.  'Let  each 
one  act  alone  out  of  himself,  according  to  his  inner  charac- 
ter; such  is  morality/3 

In  Bikkeburg,  as  in  Riga,  Herder  attempts  to  make  his 
sermons  human.  He  writes  to  Caroline  (March  21,  1772)  : 
"My  sermons  have  as  little  which  is  purely  spiritual  about 
them  as  my  person.  They  are  the  human  feelings  of  a 
full  heart/'4  Most  of  his  sermons  were  not  written  out; 
he  depended  upon  the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  Just 
as  his  dress  bore  no  insignia  of  his  pastoral  position,  except 
a  white  collar  and  a  black  mantle,  so  his  sermons  bore  no 
outward  sign  of  their  official  character  beyond  the  prayer 
which  introduced  them  and  which  closed  them.5  In  his 
farewell  sermon  Herder  tells  his  congregation  that  he  had 
always  intended  to  present  to  them  the  sensible  and  divine 
thoughts  of  the  Bible  and  nature — "These  two  great  books 
of  God" — simply,  clearly,  and  forcefully.  He  had  not  in- 
tended in  his  sermons  to  hamper  himself  with  consecrated 
and  ever-misconstrued  words,  which  cause  confusion  in 
thought,  but  to  introduce  them  to  the  real  content  of  the 
Scriptures;   their  real  spirit  and  life. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  residence  in  Buckeburg  Her- 
der gave  the  Countess  Maria  Klopstock's  "Messiah"  and 

1  Nachlass  II,  IS.     Herder  to  Lavater,  Oct.  30,  1772. 

2  Erinnerungen  II,  116;  I,  190.  Compare  Nachlass  II,  26.  To 
Lavater,   Feb.,   1775. 

3  Erinnerungen   I,  234. 

4  Nachlass  III,  204. 
s  Nachlass  III,  204. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  95 

"Lieder"  to  read.  When  she  returns  the  poem  she  sends  a 
note  in  which  she  says  that  Herder's  sermons,  referring  to 
the  future  life,  contain  more  genuine,  lasting,  and  impres- 
sive truth,  than  the  narration  of  those  things  in  the  "Mes- 
siah" which  no  human  eye  has  seen;  she  refers  especially 
to  the  nineteenth  song.1  She  feels  that  the  poet  has  allowed 
his  imagination  to  lose  itself  in  abstractions ;  that  he  has 
neglected  the  human  element  in  striving  for  the  highest 
religious  beauty.  In  Herder's  sermons  she  finds  that  relig- 
ious truth  which  comes  close  to  the  human  heart.  Klop- 
stock's  "Lieder"  the  Countess  considers  "quite  heavenly" 
(ganz  himmlisch).2 

At  a  time  when  Klopstock's  "Messiah"  was  producing  its 
greatest  moral  effect  throughout  Germany,  Herder  wrote 
his  essay,  "Ueber  die  Wiirkung  der  Dichtkunst"  (1778). 
In  it  he  recognizes  the  divine  element  in  poetry  and  its  close 
relation  to  religion.  He  believes  poetry  of  divine  origin;3 
a  revelation  of  God  to  man;4  he  calls  it  "the  noble,  joy- 
giving  balsam  coming  from  the  most  secret  powers  of  God's 
creation."5  The  oldest  law-givers,  formulators  of  religious 
mysteries  and  divine  services,  inventors  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful things  of  life,  and  teachers  of  morality,  were  poets.0 
If  the  poet  was  a  real  messenger  from  the  gods  he  had  the 
greatest  influence.7  The  highest  type  of  poetry  is  divine 
in  its  effects  and  brings  new  life;  it  transforms  man's 
morals.8     Thus  Homer  gave  the  Greeks  art,  and  wisdom, 

1  Erinnerungen  II,  85.     Countess  Marie  to  Herder,   (1772). 

2  Erinnerungen  II,  95.    Countess  Marie  to  Herder,  (Dec.,  1772). 
3 Suphan  VIII,  405,  362. 

4  Suphan  VIII,  358.    Compare  Suphan  XIII,  (1784)  ;  351,  (1785). 

5- Suphan  VIII,  343. 

6  Suphan   VIII,   366. 

^  Suphan   VIII,   369. 

8  Suphan  VIII,  344,  433. 


96  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

and  morality.1  But  the  greatest  poetry  is  so  closely  bound 
to  religion  that  a  nation  which  is  without  the  latter,  or  makes 
a  burlesque  of  it,  can  have  no  great,  effective  (wurkende) 
poetry.2  In  these  ideas  Herder  expresses  the  same  belief 
to  which  Klopstock  had  given  utterance  in  his  essay  "Von 
der  heiligen  Poesie",  first  published  in  1755,  and  the  truth 
of  which  he  had  proved  in  his  creative  work. 

Very  early  in  his  career  Herder  realized  the  shortcomings 
of  the  theology  of  his  youth,  and  made  attempts  to  bring  it 
out  of  the  schools  and  closer  to  man ;  he  took  a  broader  view 
than  most  theologians  of  his  time.  He  surveyed  a  new 
path,  and  prepared  the  way  for  a  freer  and  more  human 
conception  of  theology.3  He  had  always  attempted  to  ele- 
vate the  church  service  from  within  by  reviving  in  it  the 
true  spirit  of  Christianity ;  but,  particularly  at  the  beginning 
ot  the  nineties,  religion  and  the  Church  had  become  such 
objects  of  scorn  and  mockery,  especially  through  the  Jena- 
Kantian  philosophy,  that  Herder  adhered  more  closely  to 
the  old  form  of  church  service,  and  sought  to  revive  the 
old  sublime,  religious  spirit  in  his  more  private  duties  of 
communion,  confession,  and  baptism.4  He  considered  it 
the  duty  of  Christianity  to  teach  pure  humanity,  without  re- 
taining the  doctrine  of  the  divine  origin  of  its  founder,  and 
of  salvation  through  the  God-man  as  a  basis  for  religious 
conviction.  He  recognized  that  the  essence  of  Christianity 
lay  in  a  loving,  active,  unselfish  life;  in  the  development  of 
our  inner  being  according  to  Christ's  example.  The  prin- 
ciple of  Christianity',  he  said,  'is  not  law  but  gospel.  It  is 
founded  on  pure  benevolence  and  love,  which  embraces 
sympathy,  friendship,  conviviality,  gratitude,  magnanimity, 

1  Suphan  VIII,  371. 

2  Suphan  VIII,  410. 

3  Erinnerungen  I,  89. 

4  Erinnerungen  III,  29. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  97 

conciliation,  justness,  consideration  for  the  faults  of  others, 
philanthropy,  and  human  kindness.  It  frees  us  from  our 
greatest  enemies,  anger,  revenge,  cruelty,  envy,  surliness, 
malice ;  it  developes  a  moral  sense  in  us  without  compulsory 
rule;  it  brings  us  closer  to  peace  of  soul.  It  is  not  strict 
philosophy,  but  a  gentler  and  more  effective  training  for 
virtue,  and  it  is  the  best  suited  for  mankind.  It  is  univer- 
sal human  truth;  its  duty  is  brotherly  and  universal  love/1 
'Christ  wished  to  promote  a  kingdom  of  God  on  earth;  he 
did  not  plant  it  in  heaven,  but  founded  it  upon  universal, 
genuine  humanity.  He  did  not  deceive  his  people  by  flat- 
tery ;  he  appeared  as  a  physician  to  make  them  whole ;  as  a 
shepherd  to  gather  in  the  strayed  sheep ;  as  a  brother  and  a 
hero  to  free  and  release.  With  this  end  in  view  he  founded 
his  church.  He  who  accepts  his  religion  must  accept  also 
the  idea  regarding  the  possibility  of  the  perfection  of  man- 
kind, and  must  try  to  reach  that  goal  through  humanity/2 
'The  purer  a  religion  is,  the  more  it  must  aim  to  promote 
humanity.  The  religion  of  Christ,  which  he  himself  pro- 
fessed, taught,  and  practised,  was  humanity.  He  knew  no 
higher  name  than  "son  of  man"  (Menschensohn).3  Noth- 
ing has  ennobled  man  so  much  as  religion.4  The  more  the 
spirit  of  humanity  animates  the  hearts  of  a  people  from  hut 
to  throne,  the  more  advanced  is  the  state/5 

Jean  Paul  Richter  writes  to  Herder,  August  17,  1796: 
"You  have  united  theology  with  philosophy  like  a  mediator, 
in  making  the  Savior  a  'protomedicus'  of  our  diseased 
souls,  and  his  institution  a  moral  'clinicum' ;  in  making  a 
man  of  God  out  of  a  God-man ;  a  higher  and  broader  Pytha- 
gorean covenant  out  of  the  apostolic  mission.     You  have 

iSuphan  XVIII,  338. 

2Suphan  XVIII,  329,    (1792). 

3Suphan  XVII,  121     (1793). 

*Suphan  XIII,   164,    (1784). 

5Suphan  XVII,   121,   (1793). 


98  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

separated  heaven  and  earth,  which  (according  to  the  Egyp- 
tians) were  one  at  the  beginning,  and  have  allowed  Jesus  to 
become  human  for  the  second  time  ....  and  may  no  one 
give  to  him  again  the  divine  gloss  (Schminke)  which  covers 
up  all  his  noble  features."1  In  his  "Vorschule  der  Aes- 
thetik"  (1804)  Richter  says:  "Thus  Herder  combined  the 
boldest  freedom  of  the  conception  of  God  and  nature  with 
the  most  pious  faith,  even  believing  in  premonitions."2 

Science  and  religion  were  not  antagonists  in  Herder's 
mind ;  he  was  heartily  in  sympathy  with  all  scientific  dis- 
covery and  progress.  He  often  lamented  the  fact  that  the 
German  princes  did  not  give  more  universal  support  to  the 
advancement  of  the  knowledge  of  galvanism,  electricity, 
magnetism,  anatomy,  physiography,  physics,  and  physiology. 
He  wished  he  were  just  beginning  life,  so  that  he  might 
hope  to  see  a  greater  progress  in  these  things.  He  was 
absorbed  by  these  ideas, — the  discovery,  combination,  and 
harmony  of  the  laws  of  nature  among  themslves  and  in 
their  relation  to  the  universe  and  man.  He  often  said  that 
the  progress  in  scientific  discovery  brought  the  brighter  and 
the  more  certain  light;  and  that  on  this  path  we  must  con- 
tinue to  build  and  to  seek  the  truth  concerning  the  great 
laws  of  nature.  With  this  new  knowledge  Herder  also 
hoped  for  a  new  virtue  and  a  new  life.  The  more  physics 
enlightens  man,  he  believed,  the  more  firm  should  his  spirit- 
ual beliefs  become,  and  the  higher  should  his  soul  rise  in 
its  reverence  and  love  for  the  greatest,  original  creator  of 
all.3 

i  Nachlass   I,   277. 

2  Erinnerungen  III,  249. 

3  Erinnerungen  III,  194.  Nachlass  II,  279:  "Intramundane  God". 
To  Jacobi,  Sept.,  1785.  Compare  Nachlass  II,  126,  164,  255.  Suphan 
XIII,  15,'  (1784).  "The  force  which  is  active  in  me,  is,  in  its 
nature,  just  as  eternal  a  force  as  that  which  holds  together  suns 
and  stars."  Compare  Suphan  XIII,  170,  171,  176,  199;  XXIX,  361, 
377,  266,  139,  204,  161. 


RELIGIOUS  VIEWS  99 

Both  Klopstock  and  Herder  sought  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind in  religion ;  not  in  dogmatic  Christianity  taught  by 
church  doctrine,  but  in  that  broader  spirit  which  embraces 
the  whole  universe  and  creates  a  joyful  feeling  of  harmony 
and  peace  in  the  human  soul.  They  brought  a  gospel  of 
optimism;  of  confiding  trust  in  God  and  nature,  and  dis- 
pelled the  fear  and  morbid  introspection  which  tormented 
the  lives  of  Brockes,  Haller,  and  Gunther.  Morality  was  no 
longer  to  be  a  matter  of  rule  and  compulsion,  forced  upon 
the  human  race  by  the  threat  of  eternal  damnation.  They 
believed  in  the  development  of  the  innate  goodness  of 
humanity;  a  certain  inner  freedom  which  controls  man's 
conduct.  Nobility  of  character,  which  expresses  itself  in 
useful,  humane  deeds,  was  to  take  the  place  of  the  older 
moral  goodness,  which  more  often  was  mere  passivity. 

Klopstock,  as  poet,  occupies  the  position  of  the  preacher, 
and  gives  to  poetry  the  high  place  of  the  older  moral  doc- 
trines. He  combines  the  religious  with  the  aesthetic,  and 
thus  creates  a  new  spirit  of  humanity,  one  which  animates 
the  lives  of  his  contemporaries  and  ushers  in  a  new  era  for 
Germany.  He  conducts  man  outside  the  walls  of  the  church 
into  the  broad  world  of  the  beautiful,  of  nature  and  God. 
Herder  follows  in  Klopstock's  foot-steps,  and  combines  the 
aesthetic  with  the  religious;  but  he,  as  scholar  and  critic, 
adds  philosophy,  science,  and  history  to  his  gospel  of 
humanity.  Religion,  in  Herder's  mind,  was  the  beginning 
of  all  culture;  the  goal  of  all  culture  he  considered  the 
highest  humanity.1  Klopstock  practised  his  humanity  in 
his  own  life  and  in  his  creative  works.  Herder  gave  ex- 
pression to  his  belief  in  his  own  deeds,  in  his  writings,  and 
in  his  sermons.     Both  men  were  preachers  of  humanity. 

Jean    Paul    Richter    says    in    his    "Dammerungen    fur 

*T.  Genthe,  44. 


100  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Deutschland",  referring  to  Herder:  "I  now  turn  my  atten- 
tion to  a  poetic  spirit  who  allowed  the  pure  ether  of  heaven 
to  permeate  all  his  works,  and  who  shut  out  from  them  all 
unholy  sounds  as  from  holy  temples;  he  who,  like  unto  a 
genial  (geistig)  Oriental,  always  dwelt  under  the  open  heav- 
ens and  slumbered  only  on  heights.  Would  ye  bring  re- 
ligion from  its  heaven  and  plant  it  upon  the  earth  through 
the  muses,  like  Socrates  did  philosophy,  then   follow  his 

example,  or  that  of  Klopstock Such  muses  alone  can 

become  the  means  of  conversion  of  so  many  great  spirits.,,1 

1  Er inner ungen  III,  252. 


PART  II 

CHAPTER  III 

PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS 

The  general  awakening  of  national  consciousness  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  went  hand  in  hand  with  the 
widening  of  the  mental  horizon  of  the  individual,  passed 
through  a  state  of  vague  universalism  and  cosmopolitanism 
before  it  developed  into  political  nationalism.  The  history 
of  France  and  England,  in  this  regard,  differs  very  decidedly 
from  that  of  Germany.  The  two  former  countries  had 
been  for  centuries  complete  national  and  cultural  units; 
they  possessed  not  only  a  national  literature  and  culture, 
but  also  a  constitutional  and  political  individuality.  In 
order,  therefore,  to  forsake  the  path  of  cosmopolitanism,  they 
had  only  to  confine  their  efforts  to  the  study  and  perfection 
of  those  political  conditions  which  already  existed.  In 
France,  toward  the  close  of  the  century,  both  the  merchant 
and  literary  classes  united  in  the  conscious  creation  of  a 
truly  national  spirit  which,  active  in  all  its  manifestations 
from  the  very  beginning,  finally  sought  by  force  to  gain 
freedom  from  tyranny  and  oppression,  and  so  brought  about 
a  complete  governmental  revolution.  Germany,  on  the 
other  hand,  even  at  the  very  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 


102  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

tury,  was  not  a  united  political  power,  a  "Nationalstaat", 
but  rather  a  "Kulturstaat",1 — a  heterogeneous  collection 
of  many  individual  states,  provinces,  and  free  cities,  held 
together  not  by  the  bonds  of  constitutional  government,  but 
by  the  more  natural  ties  of  social  characteristics,  cultural 
tradition,  and  language.  These  ties,  probably  stronger  in 
the  German  people  than  in  the  French  or  English,  had  never 
been  completely  severed — not  even  during  the  destructive 
times  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War — and  in  them  was  pre- 
served the  spirit  of  the  German  people,  even  if  the  nation, 
as  such,  did  not  exist.  This  spirit  found  its  most  vital 
expression  in  the  lives  and  works  of  the  great  thinkers  and 
poets  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  presented,  as  in  a 
mirror,  that  ideal  picture  of  a  united  fatherland  which,  in 
spite  of  external  disruption,  stirred  the  hearts  of  their 
countrymen.  Thus  German  nationalism,  finally  triumphant 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  was  a  gradual,  unconscious 
growth,  born  of  the  old  Germanic  ideals  of  humanity  and 
freedom  preserved  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  Germany's 
scholars  and  literary  men. 

The  general  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  espe- 
cially unfavorable  to  the  awakening  in  Germany  of  that 
great  conscious  effort  which  would  have  been  necessary  to 
form  a  politically  united  state.  The  greatest  minds  were 
interested  in  the  universal  affairs  of  mankind ;  in  humanity 
and  nature;  in  religion  and  philosophy;  in  history  and 
tradition.  Man  was  studied  in  his  relation  to  the  great 
world  in  which  he  lives;  to  the  universe  and  to  his  God; 
and  his  political  relations  were  considered  in  the  same  light, 
with  practically  no  concern  for  him  as  citizen  of  his  country. 
But  the  great  thinkers  and  poets  only  too  often  neglected 
the  people  themselves,  "das  Volk",  in  their  efforts  to  find 

1  F.    Meinecke — "Weltbiirgertum   und    Nationalstaat." 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  103 

a  true  humanism;  they  forgot  that  all  the  individuals  of  a 
state  cannot  see  with  the  eyes  of  the  philosopher  or  poet. 
Their  idealism  had  to  be  made  practical.  Thus,  in  its  turn, 
cosmopolitanism  had  to  be  narrowed  to  nationalism;  until 
gradually  the  German  came  to  realize  that  affairs  of  state 
were  as  worthy  of  his  attention  as  philosophy  and  litera- 
ture, and  that,  indeed,  a  strong  and  united  state  was  neces- 
sary to  his  happiness. 

Only  when  we  consider  this  enthusiasm  for  the  universal 
can  we  account  for  the  lack  of  genuine  political  interest 
during  this  period,  and  for  the  fact  that  the  greatest  minds 
commonly  referred  to  the  state  as  a  "fragment",  and  to 
patriotism  as  something  narrow  and  useless, — even  con- 
sidering it  a  moral  weakness  in  man.1  We  must  not  look  too 
closely  for  an  expression  of  patriotic  feeling  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  which  presupposes  the  existence  of  a 
united  political  state.  What  we  do  find  in  the  German 
writers  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  a  manifestation  of 
racial  consciousness,  of  Teutonic  spirit;  an  expression  of  a 
love  for  things  German  and  for  Germany,  without  which 
modern  German  nationalism  would  have  been  impossible. 
If  we  accept  this  as  the  meaning  of  patriotism,  none  of  the 
literary  men  of  the  country  was  a  truer  patriot  than  were 
Klopstock  and  Herder.  Both  were  imbued  with  a  vivid 
German  spirit  which  expressed  itself  in  an  ardent  love  for 
the  honor  and  welfare  of  their  fatherland;  both  probably 
contributed  more  toward  the  awakening  and  maintenance 
of  a  genuine  interest  in  the  German  nation  than  any  of  their 
contemporaries. 

Elizabeth  Smith,  one  of  the  earliest  admirers  and  trans- 
lators of   Klopstock  in   England,   wrote   of   Klopstock,   in 

1  Schiller  to  Korner,  Oct.  13,  1789.  Lessing  to  Gleim,  Dec  16, 
1758.     Haym,  "Humboldt",  p.  51. 


104  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

1810:  "...  .the  warmth  of  patriotism  which  early  animated 
him  to  raise  the  fame  of  German  literature  in  this  particular 
to  a  level  with  that  of  other  European  countries;  the  just 
indignation  he  felt  in  reading  the  words  of  a  Frenchman, 
who  had  denied  to  the  Germans  any  talent  for  poetry;  all 
combined  with  the  consciousness  of  his  own  superior  powers 
to  spur  him  on  to  the  execution  of  his  exalted  plan."1  This 
Frenchman  was  Eliazer  Mauvillon,  a  teacher  at  the  Caro- 
linum  in  Brunswick,  who,  in  the  tenth  of  his  "Lettres 
frangoises  et  germaniques,  ou  Reflections  militaires,  litte- 
raires  et  critiques  sur  les  Frangois  et  les  Allemands"  (Lon- 
dres  1740),  had  said:  "Nommez-moi  un  esprit  createur  sur 
votre  Parnasse,  c'est  a  dire,  nommez-moi  un  poete  Alle- 
mand,  qui  ait  tire  de  son  propre  fond  un  ouvrage  de  quelque 
reputation;  je  vous  en  defie."2  Klopstock  was  the  first 
German  to  answer  this  challenge  and  to  prove  conclusively 
by  his  great  creative  work  that  the  German  race  did  possess 
genius.  Horn's  "Critical  History  of  German  Poetry  and 
Eloquence",  printed  just  two  years  after  Klopstock's  death, 
and  one  of  the  earliest  literary  histories  to  appear  in  Ger- 
many, acknowledges  the  poet's  patriotic  services :  "The  poet 
appeared  in  Germany  at  a  time,  when  unconscious  of  our 
own  powers,  or  at  least  neglecting  them,  we  favored  only 
foreign  productions,  and  were  not  restrained  from  proceed- 
ing in  that  unworthy  conduct,  even  by  the  insolence  with 
which  our  neighbours  received  such  adulation.  We  had 
accustomed  ourselves  to  consider  the  poetical  compositions 
of  the  French  as  particularly  excellent ;  and  whilst  one  per- 
son after  another  repeated  this  opinion,  all  our  attempts 
were  imitations  of  these  models;  and  the  bold,  national, 
poetic  spirit  of  former  times  was  regarded  with  contempt. 

1  Elizabeth  Smith,  II,  5. 

2  D.  F.  Strauss,  X    12-13. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  105 

Klopstock  alone  had  the  courage  to  awaken  the  attention 
of  his  sleeping  country-men,  by  his  noble  compositions  full 
of  ardour  and  tenderness ;  in  order  that  they  might  resume 
their  ancient  force  and  energy,  and  that  calm  dignity,  which 
confides  in  itself,  and  is  unwilling  to  borrow  from  others.  He 
was  the  man  who  first  animated  his  native  land  with  the 
spirit  to  attain  to  that  degree  of  excellence  in  the  higher 
species  of  poetry,  of  which  it  was  capable,  and  to  which  it 
has  already  attained."1  Thus  we  may  say  that  patriotism, 
a  love  for  his  people  and  his  nation,  was  the  primary  im- 
pulse that  stirred  Klopstock  in  his  great  labors. 

The  first  emphatic  expression  of  Klopstock's  love  for, 
and  interest  in,  Germany  we  find  in  his  Latin  farewell 
address,  delivered  in  Schulpforta,  on  September  21,  1745, 
when  the  poet  was  still  a  youth.  He  laments  the  fact  that 
with  the  single  exception  of  Germany  all  the  great  nations 
of  Europe  have  produced  great  epics,  in  his  opinion  the 
most  elevated  and  commanding  form  of  poetry.  He  says: 
"A  just  indignation  seizes  my  soul  when  forced  to  perceive 
this  great  lethargy  of  our  people.  We  seek  to  produce  a 
work  of  genius  by  busying  ourselves  with  miserable  dawd- 
lings;  with  poems  which  seem  to  be  born  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  perish  and  pass  into  oblivion,  we,  quite 
unworthy  of  the  name  'Germans',  venture  to  gain  immor- 
tality !"  By  reminding  his  country-men  of  the  proverbial 
bravery  of  their  ancestors  in  battle,  and  of  the  renown  they 
themselves  have  gained  in  philosophy,  and  in  the  arts  and 
sciences,  he  hopes  to  arouse  a  sense  of  noble  shame  at  their 
long  neglect  of  the  duty  of  adding  new  lustre  to  the  name 
of  the  fatherland  by  poetic  effort.  He  prays  fervently  that 
a  truly  great  German  poet  will  soon  appear.2 

1  Quoted  in  English  translation  by  Elizabeth  Smith,  II,  30. 

2  D.  F.  Strauss  X,  31-35. 


106  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Klopstock  realized  the  natural  inclination  of  the  German 
nation  to  admire  and  to  love  things  foreign,  and  in  so  doing 
to  neglect  and  ignore  its  own  merits. 

"Nie  war  gegen  das  Ausland 
Ein  anderes  Land  gerecht,  wie  du. 

Sey  nicht  allzugerecht !     Sie  denken  nicht  edel  genug, 
Zu  sehen,  wie  schon  dein  Fehler  ist  I"1 

He  knew  full  well  the  native  genius  of  the  Germans  and 
their  great  creative  power  in  the  field  of  artistic  and  intel- 
lectual endeavor.  Thus  early,  therefore,  he  expressed  his 
lofty  contempt  for  those  poets  who,  underestimating  their 
ability,  abuse  their  own  talents  by  slavishly  imitating  for- 
eign writers.  He  directs  his  rebukes  especially  against  the 
imitation  of  the  French  and  English,  for  he  believes  German 
genius  of  equal  rank  with  that  of  its  neighbors.  He  is 
convinced  that  if  they  relied  on  their  own  powers  entirely 
the  German  poets  would  outstrip  those  of  France  and  Eng- 
land,— yea,  even  give  rise  to  a  literature  as  great  as  that  of 
ancient  Greece.  He  expresses  this  idea  very  forcefully  in 
the  ode,  "Der  Nachahmer,,  (1764)  : 

"Schrecket  noch  andrer  Gesang  dich,  o  Sohn  Teutons, 
Als  Griechengesang :    so  gehoren  dir  Hermann, 
Luther  nicht  an,  Leibnitz,  Jene  nicht  an, 
Welche  der  Hain  Braga's  verbarg. 

Dichter,  so  bist  du  kein  Deutscher ;    ein  Nachahmer, 
Belastet  vom  Joche,  verkennst  du  dich  selber; 
Keines  Gesang  ward  dir  Marathons  Schlacht; 
Nacht'  ohne  Schlaf  hattest  du  nie !" 

The  Germans,  he  says,  have  been  slaves  of  imitation  long 
enough ;  they  must  cast  off  their  chains,  and  must  be  made 
to  realize  the  great  powers  which  dwell  within  them;  they 
must  learn  to  give  free  expression  to  their  own  feelings  and 

i"Mein  Vaterland"  (1768). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  107 

tastes,  unhampered  by  the  spirit  of  imitation  and  worship 
of  foreign  models.1 

From  the  very  beginning,  however,  Klopstock  is  in  no 
wise  inclined  to  pessimism  regarding  the  future  of  German 
literature.  Only  seven  years  after  the  famous  address  at 
Schulpforta,  in  a  letter  to  Gleim  (February  19,  1752),  he 
points  with  pride  to  the  fact  that  Germany  has  already  pro- 
duced epics  equal  in  worth  to  those  written  by  the  French 
and  English  poets,  and  promises  to  outdo  the  work  of  these 
nations.     He  addresses  the  French : 

"Zu  stolze  Gallier,  schweigt  nun,  und  fleht  um  Gnade; 

Sonst  brechen  wir  nun  euch  den  Stab, 

Und  sprechen  euch  den  Geist  gebietrisch  ab !" 

To  the  English  he  directs  the  following  words : 

"Ihr  habt  das  Paradies  und  der  Leonidas ! 

Das  ist  nun  ungefahr  so  auch  etwas ! 

Allein  wir  haben 

Fur's  erste  :    nicht  gemeine  Gaben  ; 

Furs  andre :    Hermann,  Friedrich,  Nimrod, 

Und  dann  auch  die  Theresiade ! 

Drum  f  ehlt  uns  gar  nichts  mehr,  als  eure  Duncias  !"2 

How  much  Klopstock  himself  contributed  toward  bringing 
German  literature  to  such  a  position  we  already  know. 

When  Klopstock,  while  still  at  Schulpforta,  sought  a 
worthy  subject  for  the  epic,  which  he  felt  himself  called 
upon  to  create  for  Germany,  his  first  choice  was  the  great 
emperor,  Henry  the  Fowler,  whose  history  he  had  known 
from  early  childhood.  This  monarch  had  founded  Qued- 
linburg,  the  city  which  was  to  become  his  final  resting-place, 
and  many  centuries  later  the  scene  of  Klopstock's  birth. 
But  in  spite  of  the  poet's  love  for  this  great  German  ruler, 

1  See  the  odes:  "Fragen",  "Die  beiden  Musen"  (1752)  ;  "Kaiser 
Heinrich",  "Der  Nachahmer"  (1764);  "Wir  und  Sie"  (1766); 
"Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain"   (1767);    "Mein  Vaterland"   (1768). 

2  Klopstock  X,  407.     "Die  beiden  Musen"  (1752). 


108  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

in  spite  of  his  glowing  patriotic  regard  for  Germany,  his 
interest  in  humanity  was  too  broad  and  all-embracing  to 
confine  itself  to  an  historical  hero,  whose  efforts  were 
limited  to  the  welfare  of  a  single  people.  His  careful 
religious  training  had  brought  him  to  a  deep  comprehension 
of  the  grandeur  of  the  great  founder  of  Christianity  who 
gave  up  his  life  in  his  unbounded  love  for  mankind.  The 
Savior's  ineffable  nobility  of  character  inspired  Klopstock 
with  the  conception  of  the  Messiah  as  the  most  exalted 
hero  for  a  Christian  epic.  Here,  then,  the  poet's  feeling 
had  to  give  way  to  his  great  love  for  humanity.  He  him- 
self tells  us  of  the  choice  of  a  subject  for  the  epic  he  was 
to  write,  in  the  ode,  "Mein  Vaterland"  (1768)  : 

"Friih  hab  ich  dir   (meinem  Vaterland)   mich  geweiht. 
Schon  da  mein  Herz 
Den  ersten  Schlag  der  Ehrbegierde  schlug, 
Erkor  ich,  unter  den  Lanzen  und  Harnischen 
Heinrich,  deinen  Befreier,  zu  singen. 

Allein  ich  sah  die  hohere  Bahn, 

Und,  entflammt  von  mehr,  denn  nur  Ehrbegier, 

Zog  ich  weit  sie  vor.     Sie  fuhret  hinauf 

Zu  dem  Vaterlande  des  Menschengeschlechts." 

The  earliest  patriotic  ode  of  Klopstock  dates  probably 
from  the  year  1749,  or  even  before.  It  is  the  poem  which 
appeared  in  1771  with  the  title,  "Heinrich  der  Vogler",  but 
which  was  first  published  in  the  " Bremer  Beitrage"  with 
the  heading,  "Kriegslied  zur  Nachahmung  des  alten  Liedes 
von  der  Chevychase-Jagd",  and  there  celebrated  Frederick 
II  of  Prussia.  This  was  the  first  and  only  time  that  Klop- 
stock paid  poetic  tribute  to  Frederick  the  Great.  Later  he 
changed  title  and  poem  and  wiped  out  all  traces  of  Fred- 
erick's name ;  he  even  denied  that  he  had  ever  intended  to 
honor  the  Prussian  ruler.1  In  his  youthful  enthusiasm  he 
had  been  carried  away  by  the  great  success  of  Frederick's 

i  D.  F.  Strauss  X,  82-84. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  109 

military  achievements;1  but  later  he  had  a  broader  vision 
and  demanded  something  more  in  a  king  than  an  ardent 
desire  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  his  country.  Even  if 
Klopstock  could  have  dealt  leniently  with  Frederick's  ma- 
terialistic philosophy,  he  could  not  overlook  his  disdain  for 
German  poetry,  which  was  just  beginning  to  flourish  and 
needed  the  hearty  sympathy  of  its  monarch.  The  poet's 
love  for  Germany  and  his  ardent  hope  for  her  future  high 
position  among  the  literary  nations  of  the  world  was  far 
greater  than  his  love  for  his  own  king,  when  that  king  did 
not  lend  all  his  support  to  the  complete  development  of  his 
people,  spiritual  as  well  as  political. 

In  Frederick  V  of  Denmark,  however,  Klopstock  found 
those  ideal  qualities  which  he  demanded  in  a  great  ruler,  and 
which  he  had  missed  in  the  Prussian  monarch.  He  cele- 
brates him  in  the  ode,  "Friedrich  der  Funfte"  (1750)  : 

"Welchen  Konig  der  Gott  iiber  die  Konige 
Mit  einweihendern  Blick,  als  er  geboren  ward, 
Sah  vom  hohen  Olymp  dieser  wird  Menschenfreund 

Seyn  und  Vater  des  Vaterlands 

Lange  sinnt  er  ihm  nach,  welch  ein  Gedank'  es  ist: 
Gott  nachahmen  und  selbst  Schopfer  des  Gluckes  seyn 
Vieler  Tausend' !     Er  hat  eilend  die  Hon'  erreicht 
Und  entschliesst  sich,  wie  Gott  zu  seyn." 

"The  spirit  of  conquest",  he  points  out,  "does  not  animate 
Frederick  V;  he  is  too  noble  to  desire  fame  won  on  the 
field  of  conquest.  In  his  love  for  humanity  he  wishes  to  be 
a  father  to  his  people  and  in  turn  to  be  beloved  by  them.  He 
rewards  righteous  deeds,  and  then  smiles  graciously  upon 
those  who,  consecrating  themselves  to  the  muses,  work 
silently  but  surely  to  make  nobler,  through  their  productions, 
their  fellow-men.  Above  all,  the  greatest  desire  of  such  a 
monarch  is  to  imitate  God  in  ministering  to  the  happiness 

1  Klopstock  X,  336ff.  Klopstock  writes  to  Roland  of  his  study 
of  military  tactics  and  maneuvers  in  his  youth  and  of  his  early 
interest  in  the  Seven  Years'  War. 


110  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

of  his  people."1  In  the  ode,  "Fur  den  Konig"  (1753),  the 
poet  says  that  the  most  exalted  object  the  human  eye  can 
look  upon  is  a  king  who  succeeds  in  making  his  people 
happy : 

...."Ich  weiss,  was  gross  und  schon  ist 
In  dem  Leben.     Allein  Das  ist  das  Hochste, 
Was  des  Sterblichen  Auge 
Sehn  kann :    Ein  Konig,  der  Gliickliche  macht !" 

Finally,  in  the  "Prayer  of  a  Good  King"  (1753),  Klopstock, 
enlarging  upon  these  general  ideas,  presents  a  complete 
picture  of  his  ideal  ruler.2  In  the  absence  of  a  glorious 
figure  on  the  contemporary  political  stage  of  Germany,  the 
poet  rescues  Hermann,  Germany's  ideal  hero,  from  the  dim 
past,  and  celebrates  him  in  several  odes.3  And  again,  in 
"Kaiser  Heinrich"  (1764),  he  turns  to  sing  his  praises  to 
another  of  Germany's  past  heroes. 

Beginning  with  the  year  1764,  we  find  Klopstock's  poetic 
genius  more  actively  patriotic  than  ever  before.  Religion 
and  love  no  longer  engross  his  entire  attention,  and  he  be- 
comes m6re  serious  in  his  contemplation  of  the  past  history 
of  his  country.  We  find  traces  of  Klopstock's  interest  in 
old  Germanic  history  and  mythology,  however,  as  early  as 
1747.4  In  January,  1749,  he  writes  to  Bodmer,  that  he  has 
read  the  Minnesongs  ("Proben  der  alten  schwabischen 
Poesie  des  13.  Jahrhunderts  aus  der  Manessischen  Samm- 
lung.  Zurich,  1748"),  but  has  no  inclination  just  then  to  take 
up  the   study  of  the  language  of  these   "noble  ancients", 

1  Compare  "Friedrich  der  Fiinfte"  (1751);  "Die  Konigin  Luise" 
(1752);    "Die  Genesung  des  Konigs"   (1759). 

2  Klopstock  X,  288ff.  Published  again  in  1782  in  Cramer's  "Er 
und  iiber  Ihn." 

3  "Hermann  und  Thusnelda",  "Fragen"  (1752);  "Der  Nach- 
ahmer"  (1764);  "Wir  und  Sie"  (1766);  "Stintenburg"  (1766); 
"Hermann"    (1767). 

4  Grohmann,  p.  11. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  111 

which  would  be  necessary  to  understand  them.1  It  is  pos- 
sible that  Klopstock's  cousin,  Schmidt,  first  turned  the 
poet's  attention  to  the  older  history  of  Germany.  Schmidt's 
own  interest  in  Norse  and  Celtic  mythology,  as  we  gather 
from  a  letter  to  Gleim,  dated  September  12,  1750,2  had  been 
aroused  by  reading  quotations  from  Olaus  Wormius  in 
Temple's  essay  "De  la  vertu  heroique."  He  translated 
Lodbrog's  "Sterbelied"  in  the  meter  of  the  Chevy  chase 
ballad,  and  this  meter  Klopstock  chose  for  his  "Kriegs- 
lied",  written  in  1749. 

Interest  in  the  historic  past  was  becoming  more  general ; 
it  had  never,  indeed,  been  quite  dead.  Opitz  mentions 
Danske  Kiampe  Viiser,  and  Lohenstein  had  written  "Ar- 
minius".  Tacitus,  too,  was  not  entirely  neglected.  In  1750 
appeared  Schutze's  "LehrbegrifT  der  alten  Deutschen  und 
Nordischen  Volker"  and  Joh.  Chr.  Schmidt's  "Ragnarlied". 
A  German  translation  of  Mallet's  "Introduction  a  l'histoire 
de  Danemarke"  (1757)  was  published  in  1765.  Gersten- 
berg's  "Gedicht  eines  Skalden",  which  gave  the  earliest 
important  impulse  toward  the  introduction  of  Norse  myth- 
ology, made  its  appearance  in  1766.3  But  of  greater  mo- 
ment to  Klopstock  than  all  these  works  was  the  appearance 
of  Ossian. 

James  Macpherson  published  in  1760  his  "Fragments  of 
Ancient  Poetry,  Collected  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland, 
and  Translated  from  the  Gallic  or  Erse  Language" ;  in 
1761  appeared  his  epic,  "Fingal",  and  in  1763  his  "Temora". 
Notices  and  translations  of  these  works  made  their  appear- 
ance in  Germany  as  early  as  1762.4     The  year  1764  marks 

1  Weimar.  Jahrbuch  IV,  135. 

2  Klamer  Schmidt  I,  137.  Schmidt  gives  Gleim  information 
concerning  Norse  mythology.  Compare  Quellen  und  Forschungen, 
XXXIX,  18.     (Erich  Schmidt). 

3  Grohmann,  p.   11. 

4Tombo,  pp.  4ff.     Bibliography  of  Ossian  in  Germany. 


112  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

the  beginning  for  Klopstock  of  a  period  of  renewed 
activity  in  the  field  of  the  ode,  and  the  poet's  acquaintance 
with  Ossian  has  been  considered  by  recent  criticism  the 
impulse  which  prompted  that  activity.1  The  influence  of 
the  Gallic  Bard  upon  the  German  poet  is  especially  visible 
in  the  odes  written  in  the  years  1764,  1766,  and  1767,  and 
in  the  "Bardiete",  "Die  Hermannsschlacht,',  and  "Her- 
mann und  die  Fiirsten" ;  traces  of  it  appear  also  in  the 
later  odes  and  "Bardiete",  and  even  in  the  last  songs  of  the 
"Messiah".2  From  the  year  1764  onward,  Klopstock  neg- 
lected entirely  the  old  classical  divinities  and  introduced 
the  Norse  gods  into  his  work;  he  even  drove  out  the 
inhabitants  of  Olympus  from  older  poems  and  filled  their 
places  with  the  dwellers  of  Walhalla.  By  the  end  of  the 
year  1767  he  had  transformed  his  old  world  of  classical 
gods  into  a  realm  of  old  Norse  deities,  interspersed  by  the 
bardic  figures  of  Ossian.3  Celts  and  Germanni  were  one 
race  in  Klopstock's  mind,  and  he  believed  the  Old  Norse 
system  of  gods,  as  found  in  the  Edda,  the  common  religion 
of  both  peoples ;  so  that  Ossian's  heroes  and  the  characters 
of  Old  Norse  mythology  went  hand  in  hand  in  his  own 
poetry.4  At  the  height  of  his  admiration  for  the  great 
Celtic  poet  Klopstock  writes  to  Denis  (August  4,  1767)  : 
"I  love  Ossian  so  much  that  I  place  his  works  above  certain 
productions  written  during  the  most  flourishing  time  of 
Greek  antiquity."5  This  great  interest  in  the  Northern  singer 
may  be  attributed  to  Klopstock's  warm  patriotism  for  his 
own  country,  and  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  he  con- 

1  Tombo,  pp.  92,  94,  95. 
2Tombo,  p.  94. 

3  Lappenberg,  p.  172.  Klopstock  to  Denis,  Sept.  8,  1767.  See 
Tombo,  p.  87.  Grohmann,  p.  9,  says  that  Klopstock  was  probably 
the  first  to  seek  to  make  Braga  and  Wodan  living  figures. 

4  See  Klamer  Schmidt  I,  137.     Schmidt  to  Gleim,  Sept.  12,  1750. 

5  Lappenberg,  p.  166.  Compare  Lappenberg,  p.  164— To  Denis, 
Jan.  6,  1767. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  113 

sidered  Ossian  an  ancient  German  poet.  Thus  he  writes 
to  Gleim,  June  31,  1769:  "Ossian  was  of  German  descent, 
for  he  was  a  Caledonian.1  The  poet  even  considered  Ossian 
a  German  Homer;  he  sings  to  him  in  the  ode,  "Unsre 
Sprache"  (1767): 

"Die  Vergessenheit  umhiillt,  o  Ossian,  auch  dich ! 
Dich  huben  sie  hervor,  und  du  stehest  nun  da, 
Gleichest  dich  dem  Griechen,  trotzest  ihm, 
Und  fragst,  ob  wie  du  er  entflamme  den  Gesang?"2 

Klopstock  writes  to  Denis,  September  8,  1767:  "Ossian's 
works  are  truly  masterpieces.  If  we  could  only  find  such 
a  bard  !"3  He  longs  to  find  as  a  counterpart  to  the  old  bard 
some  ancient  countryman  who  had  grown  up  on  German 
soil,  filled  with  the  inspiration  of  Germany.  Less  than  a 
year  after  (July  22,  1768),  we  learn  that  he  believes 
this  prayer  to  have  been  partly  fulfilled.  He  writes  to 
Denis :  "Your  news  regarding  the  existence  of  Illyrian 
bards,  who  have  come  down  to  us  in  tradition,  caused  me 
such  great  joy,  that  I  could  really  have  wished  your  Ossian 
had  pleased  me  less,  so  that  I  might  be  able  to  beg  you  to 
put  him  aside  and  translate  these  bards."  He  informs 
Denis  that  he  has  been  working  with  some  old  German 
fragments,  and  intends  to  publish  a  small  collection  of  them, 
hoping  to  include  some  of  the  above-mentioned  Illyrian 
poems.  He  says  he  has  rediscovered4  a  Saxon  poet  (author 
of  the  "Heliand")  who  wrote  during  the  reign  of  Louis  the 
Pious  and  who  is  the  greatest  known  poet  from  his  time 
to  the  Reformation.  This  letter  also  informs  Denis  of 
Klopstock's  study  of  various  languages,  including  Gothic, 

iKlamer  Schmidt  II,  214f.. 

2  Compare  "Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain"  (1767). 

3  Lappenberg,  p.  172. 

4  Klopstock  acknowledges  in  his  letter  to  Gleim  that  the  Eng- 
lish historian,  Hikes,  could  have  made  the  Germans  familiar  with 
the  poet  of  the  "Heliand"  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  if  they 
had  read  his  works.     Klopstock  X,  435.     Klamer  Schmidt  I,  214f. 


114  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Anglo-Saxon,  Cimbric,  Frisian,  and  Celtic.1  To  Ebert 
Klopstock  writes,  May  5,  1769:  "I  have  learned  our  Low 
Saxon  language  as  it  was  at  the  time  of  Louis  the  Pious. 
It  is  preserved  in  only  one  monument,  the  manuscript  of 
which  is  in  the  British  Museum,  and  which  the  king  (of 
Denmark)  is  having  copied.  I  shall  edit  it  with  the  title: 
'Die  Geschichte  des  Erlosers,  durch  einen  christlichen  Dich- 
ter,  bald  nach  Witekinds  Barden\  I  am  editing  it,  indeed, 
primarily  to  teach  the  Germans  to  recognize  fully  the  wealth 
of  their  language, — but  it  also  possesses  poetic  beauties, 
and  of  those  there  are  not  a  few."2  In  addition  to  the 
linguistic  importance  of  this  poem,  Klopstock  recognizes 
the  notable  place  it  will  occupy  in  the  cultural  history  of 
the  German  peoples.  He  says:  "It  is  also  of  importance 
to  see  how  we  North  Germans  thought  about  religion  soon 
after  the  time  when  Karl,  by  sword  and  inquisition,  con- 
verted us."3  In  comparison  with  the  sublimity  of  the 
poetry  of  the  "Heliand",  Klopstock  recognizes  the  non- 
poetic  nature  of  Otfrid's  "Evangelienbuch".4  Klopstock 
also  discovered  the  Anglo-Saxon  poet,  Caedmon,  anew  for 
the  Germans.  He  considers  him  a  Milton,5 — "the  greatest 
poet  among  our  ancients,  excepting  Ossian."6  As  his 
labors  still  continued,  it  was  clear  that  the  great  impelling 
motive  in  Klopstock's  study  of  German  antiquity  was  al- 
ways patriotism.  He  writes  to  Gleim,  June  31,  1769:  "I 
hope  you  are  satisfied  with  the  patriotic  spirit  which  forces 
me  to  become  a  scholar,  for  without  this  patriotism  I  would 

1  Lappenberg,  pp.  210f. 

2  Lappenberg,  p.  218.     Compare  letter  to   Gleim,  June  30,   1769. 
Klopstock  X,  435;    Klamer  Schmidt  I,  214f. 

3  Klamer  Schmidt  II,  218.    To  Gleim,  June  30,  1769. 

4  Klopstock  IX,   164.     "Vom  Sylbenmaasse"    (1770). 

5  Lappenberg,  p.  211.     To  Denis,  July  22,  1768. 

6  Klopstock   X,   435.    To   Gleim,   June   30,    1769.     Compare   Ge- 
lehrtenrepublik,    p.  294. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  115 

not  have  cared  to  be  a  student.     My  chief  purpose  is  the 
further  development  and  perfection  of  our  language."1 

Concerning  the  position  of  Germany  among  the  other 
nations,  Klopstock  writes  to  Gleim,  September  2,  1769: 
"Most  exalted  and  noble  citizen  of  our  fatherland,  in  your 
presence  I  give  vent  to  my  joy.  The  Germans  with  their 
temperament  not  rashly  excitable  (die  nicht  aufflammen), 
but  at  once  equable  and  ardent  (die  gluhen),  will  from  now 
on  ....  engage  in  a  warm  and  lasting  struggle  for  supre- 
macy in  the  intellectual  and  cultural  field  against  France 
and  England,  and  will  come  out  victors.  Here  they  will 
come  into  conflict  with  the  Greeks,  who,  till  now,  have  been 
conquerors.  I  cannot  hope  to  live  longer  than  to  see  the 
first  dust  raised  by  this  combat.2  In  his  own  prose  writ- 
ings Klopstock  contributed  a  large  share  toward  the  Ger- 
man scholarship  of  his  day,  and  had  no  small  part  in  that 
enlistment  of  the  genuine  interest  and  zeal  of  the  Germans 
in  their  intellectual  and  artistic  pursuits  which  finally  placed 
them  so  high  among  civilized  nations.3  His  efforts  were 
directed  particularly  toward  the  study  and  development  of 
language,  for  he  considered  it  "a  receptacle  of  the  peculiar 
conception  of  a  people",4  composed,  in  its  very  soul,  of  a 
people's  ideas,  feelings,  and  passions.5  The  poets  of  a 
nation,  too,  he  believed,  have  always  possessed  a  love  for 
their  fatherland  to  a  high  degree.6  He  affirmed  that  a  life 
spent  in  active  service  and  a  life  spent  at  the  writing-table 
are  less  different  than  is  usually  supposed;   both  may  pro- 

1  Klamer  Schmidt  II,  218. 
2Klamer  Schmidt  II,  231. 

3  Cf .  Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.  204. 

4  Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.  225. 

5Klopstock's    Werke,    IX,    431,    437.     "Vom    edlen    Ausdruck," 
1779.     Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.  245. 
6  Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.  180. 


116  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

duce  effective  results,  of  which  those  which  "relate  to  the 
heart"  are  most  excellent."1 

Klopstock  believed  firmly  that  the  German  will  carry  out 
successfully  what  he  has  once  resolved  to  do;2   and  his 
constant  object  was  to  arouse  the  native  character  of  his 
people.     In    1779   he   exhorts   his   countrymen:    "Ye   still 
doubt;   ye  still  possess  a  fear  of  ill  success,  since  we  chal- 
lenge you  to  make  the  great  decision  with  us?     Is  that 
worthy  of  our  ancestors?     Of  Luther,  who,  with  his  single 
strength,  and  through  one  book,  almost  recreated  the  lan- 
guage (of  Germany), — and  what  a  language! — Opitz,  who 
first  used  this  tongue  correctly? — Melanchthon,  who  was 
called  Germany's  teacher,  and  who  was  indeed,  and  who 
has  not  yet  entirely  ceased  to  be  so? — Keppler,  who  saw 
the  cause  of  the  earth's  motion  before  Newton? — Leibnitz, 
who  also  discovered  truth  through  his  imagination?     With 
these  truly  German  men   (as  kinsmen)   in  Heaven's  name 
let  us  cease  being  modest  to  the  point  of  timidity  (Klein- 
mut),   and   frightened   at  the  greatness   of    foreigners    (I 
mean  genuine  greatness;    for  a  great  deal  about  them  is 
only  external  lustre).     Make  bold  to  think  German."3 

In  his  noble  determination  to  advance  the  cause  of  his 
country,  Klopstock  even  ventured  into  the  field  of  history. 
In  a  letter  written  by  C.  Fr.  Cramer  to  Gronveld  in  Copen- 
hagen, dated  Paris,  March  18,  1807,  we  learn  that  during 
the  winter  of  1787-1788 — "Jealous  in  his  patriotism  that 
we  had  a  sufficient  number  of  students  of  history  (Ge- 
schichtsforscher)  and  compilers  (Stoppler),  but  very  few 
historiographers  with  whom  our  fatherland  could  bid  de- 
fiance to  the  ancients,  to  the  English  and  French",  he  began 
"with  the  style  of  a  Tacitus"  to  write  a  history  of  the  Seven 

1  Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.  36. 

2  Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.  439. 

3Klopstock's  works,  IX,  436.     "Vom  edlen  Ausdruck,"   1779. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  117 

Years'  War.  However,  the  work  was  never  published; 
and  Cramer  informs  us  that  in  a  moment  of  severe  self- 
criticism  the  poet  burned  his  whole  manuscript.  During 
his  later  visits  to  Hamburg  from  Paris  Cramer  often  wished 
to  discuss  this  history,  but  Klopstock  always  answered: 
"Everything  that  relates  to  war,  that  laurel-crowned  fury, 
is  horrible  and  detestable  to  me.  Do  not  mention  the  mat- 
ter again."1  This  rejoinder  can  be  fully  understood  after 
Klopstock's  attitude  toward  the  French  Revolution  has  been 
considered. 

In  the  ode,  "Das  neue  Jahrhundert"   (1760),  Klopstock 
sang: 

"O   Freiheit, 
Silberton  dem  Ohre, 

Licht  dem  Verstand  und  hoher  Flug  zu  denken, 
Dem  Herzen  gross  Gefuhl ! 

O  Freiheit,  Freiheit!    nicht  nur  der  Demokrat 
Weiss,  was  du  bist, 
Des  guten  Konigs  glucklicher  Sohn, 
Der  weiss  es  auch !" 

Thus  we  see  that  Klopstock's  idea  of  freedom  was  not 
solely  a  political  one,  conceiving  it  as  confined  to  a  republic, 
but  rather  the  freedom  of  the  individual  to  develop  his  own 
powers  under  favorable  external  conditions,  whether  in  a 
republic  or  monarchy.  Freedom  was  the  first  foundation- 
stone  of  the  poet's  "Gelehrtenrepublik"  ;2  and  here,  too,  its 
broader  meaning  held  true.  When  the  French  Revolution 
broke  out,  Klopstock,  like  so  many  others  of  his  country- 
men, thought  he  saw  in  this  great  awakening  of  national 
consciousness  the  beginning  of  an  ideal  state,  where  justice 

1  Klopstock  X,  488.  Taken  from  "Morgenblatt",  1808— numbers 
90  and  91.  See  X,  491 — Klopstock  also  wrote  some  historical 
"Denkmaler"  (descriptions  of  remarkable  events  connected  with 
the  French  Revolution),  all  trace  of  which  has  been  lost. 

2  Gelehrtenrepublik,  p.   108- 


118  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

and  freedom  would  rule ;  and  he  hailed  it  with  the  warmest 
joy  and  enthusiasm. 

After  he  had  been  crowned  "citizen"  of  the  French  Re- 
public, Klopstock  writes  to  Roland,  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior, from  Hamburg,  November  19,  1792:  "It  is  impos- 
sible for  a  foreigner  to  earn  the  honor  of  being  presented 
with  the  title  'citizen'  by  the  French  National  Assembly. 
The  only  thing  which  can,  and  that  to  a  limited  degree,  make 
him  worthy  of  it,  is  the  evidence  of  civism  which  he  has 

already  given I  began  to  show  my  civism  toward  the 

end  of  1788  in  an  ode  entitled  'Les  fitats  Generaux'.  I 
believed  even  thus  early  to  foresee  French  freedom,  and 
with  almost  tearful  eyes  I  gave  myself  expression  in  an 

effusion  of  the  greatest  joy On  February  20,  1792,  I 

wrote  to  La  Rochefoucauld  that  I  should  stand  by  the  con- 
stitution till  death The  last  ode  which  I  composed  on 

the  French  Revolution  dates  from  April,  1792,  and  is 
enclosed  herewith   ('Der  Freiheitskrieg')."1 

In  his  first  revolutionary  ode  Klopstock  calls  the  action 
of  the  French  people  the  greatest  deed  of  the  century,  and 
pleads  with  the  Germans  to  follow  the  glorious  example  set 
by  their  neighbors.  In  the  ode,  "Kennet  euch  selbst" 
(1789),  the  poet  expresses  his  feelings  even  more  force- 
fully. 'France  made  herself  free,  and  by  this  noblest  of  all 
actions  raised  herself  as  high  as  Olympus/  Klopstock  ad- 
monishes his  own  inert,  sleeping  people  to  rouse  themselves, 
and,  awakening  their  full  spirit  of  nationality,  not  to  fear 
the  purging  storm  of  revolution,  so  that  they  might  enjoy 
the  blessings  it  would  bring  after  it  had  passed.  In  an- 
other ode  of  the  same  year  (1789 — "Der  Fiirst  und  sein 
Kebsweib"),  the  poet  foresees  the  awakening  in  Germany 
of  this  national  consciousness  ("der  schreckliche  Geist  der 

1  Klopstock's  works  X,  336ff. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  119 

Freiheit"),  which  already  caused  the  immoral,  licentious 
German  princes,  of  which  there  were  all  too  many,  to 
tremble  for  their  thrones  and  for  their  own  safety.  The 
princes,  he  declares,  feel  the  approach  of  this  "hundred- 
armed,  hundred-eyed  spectre",  against  which  they  are 
powerless.  Klopstock  laments  the  fact  that  Germany,  that 
country  which  gave  birth  to  that  glorious  spirit  of  religious 
freedom,  remained  silent,  and  allowed  another  nation  "to 
raise  the  freedom  of  citizenship  out  of  the  dust"  ("Sie  und 
nicht  Wir",  1790).  But  he  tries  to  seek  comfort  in  the 
fact  that  if  the  German  spirit  of  freedom  has  been  hin- 
dered from  producing  a  more  perfect  political  state  in  the 
fatherland,  it  has  been  carried  in  the  hearts  of  German 
emigrants  to  the  shores  of  America,  where  it  has  contrib- 
uted its  share  in  establishing  a  free  country. 

"An  Amerika's  Stromen 

Flammt  schon  eigenes  Licht,  leuchtet  den  Volkern  umher. 
Hier  auch  winkte  mir  Trost,  er  war :    in  Amerika  leuchten 
Deutsche  zugleich  umher;    aber  er  trostete  nicht-" 

The  last  ode  in  praise  of  the  great  Revolution  Klopstock 
wrote  in  April,  1792.  He  encloses  it  with  the  letter  written 
to  Roland,  November  19,  1792,  and  gives  the  minister  its 
history.  When,  in  early  summer,  King  Frederick  William 
II  of  Prussia  and  Emperor  Leopold  II  of  Austria,  having 
agreed,  in  1791,  to  attempt  the  reestablishment  of  royal 
power  and  the  old  order  of  things  in  France,  formed  an 
alliance  in  Berlin,  Klopstock  sent  his  ode,  "Der  Freiheits- 
krieg",  on  July  2nd,  to  Duke  Karl  Ferdinand  ©f  Braun- 
schweig who  was  to  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  troops. 
The  poet  hoped  most  sincerely  to  dissuade  the  duke  from 
entering  upon  such  an  unjust  war.  Although  Klopstock's 
noble  efforts  were  in  vain,  he  had  tried  his  best  to  spare 
his  country  the  stain  of  this  disgrace. 

In  this  same  letter  to  Roland  Klopstock  warns  the  French 


120  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

minister  that  the  outrageous  deeds  committed  in  Avignon, 
and  especially  the  awful  Paris  massacre  of  September  2nd, 
must  not  go  unpunished.  He  feels  the  danger  that  liberty 
will  become  license,  and  he  would  prevent  the  French  people 
from  spoiling  and  demolishing  their  own  grand  creation. 
He  reminds  the  minister  that  King  Frederick  of  Denmark 
is  the  most  absolute  ruler  in  Europe,  not  through  usurpa- 
tion, but  by  constitutional  right;  yet  he  permitted  freedom 
of  the  press,  freed  the  serfs,  and  forbade  the  Danes  using 
negro  slaves  in  the  field.  He  rules  justly,  and  is  a  father 
to  his  people;  he  is  the  first  king  to  acknowledge  the 
French  Republic.  Klopstock  calls  France  his  new  father- 
land (he  had  already  given  Denmark  much  the  same  appel- 
lation) and  wishes  her  to  join  in  alliance  with  Denmark. 
He  is  also  glad  that  by  being  made  a  "citizen"  of  the  Re- 
public by  the  French  National  Assembly,  he  has  become  a 
fellow  citizen  of  Washington.1 

In  spite  of  all  the  evils  which  followed  closely  upon  the 
first  outbursts  of  freedom  beyond  the  German  border,  Klop- 
stock remained  faithful  to  the  French  movement  for  a  long 
time.  He  witnessed  the  murder  of  the  king,  the  down-fall 
of  the  Girondists,  the  reign  of  terror  with  its  horrors  in 
Paris  and  in  the  provinces,  and  even  the  abolition  of  religion. 
He  never  sent  back  the  diploma  which  made  him  a  citizen 
of  the  French  Republic  and  fellow-citizen  of  Washington ; 
he  was  always  proud  of  it,  and  continually  denied  the  false 
reports  which  claimed  he  had  discarded  his  title.2  But, 
when  finally  the  spirit  of  conquest  broke  loose,  he  could  no 
longer  support  the  French;  all  his  bright  hopes  for  the 
establishment  of  an  ideal  republic  were  shattered.  The 
most  horrible  of  all  horrors  now   ruled  in  the  very  land 

i  Klopstock  X,  336ff. 

2  Klopstock  X,  348.  Taken  from  Berl.  Monatschrift,  Vol. 
XXVII  (1796). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  121 

where  he  had  hoped  freedom  might  dwell  in  all  her  glory. 
'Naught  came  of  all  the  good  and  noble  things  of  which 
the  French  people  had  given  promise.'1  To  Herder  Klop- 
stock  writes,  July  20,  1799:  "In  what  a  time  we  are  living! 
Even  a  great  nation  has  gone  so  far  as  to  allow  a  shameful 
(erstunkene)  and  pretending  (erlogene)  freedom  to  make 
its  appearance."2 

Klopstock's  early  enthusiasm  for  the  French  Revolution, 
however,  was  not  an  unpatriotic  renunciation  of  his  own 
people,  and  a  transplantation  of  his  love  of  country  in  a 
foreign  soil ;  he  considered  both  the  English  and  the  French, 
as  he  did  the  Celts,  members  of  the  Germanic  race,  and  his 
interest  and  patriotic  spirit  went  out  to  them  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  Germany  as  to  fellow  countrymen.  He  was 
interested  in  this  great  political  upheaval  only  insofar  as  it 
was  applicable  to  Germany  and  her  future.  He  looked 
upon  the  establishment  of  a  truly  republican  state  as  an 
ideal  which  he  hoped  Germany  would  aim  to  reach.  When 
this  ideal  was  shattered,  his  love  for  France  grew  cold. 
"Towards  the  last  Klopstock  did  not  love  to  speak  of  the 
events  which  have  so  lately  disturbed  the  world,  but  turned 
the  discourse  with  peculiar  pleasure  to  the  past  scenes  of 
his  life."3 

In  reading  Klopstock's  correspondence  one  finds  evidence 
again  and  again  of  what  a  powerful  influence  the  poet's  own 
wonderful  personality,  as  well  as  his  creative  works,  exerted 
in  arousing  and  animating  his  contemporaries  with  that  vital 
feeling  of  freedom  and  love  for  Germany  which  burned  so 

1  Zwei  Nordamerikaner"  (1795";  see  "An  La  Rochefoucaulds 
Schatten"  (1793);  "Die  Verwandlung"  (1793);  "Das  Denkmal" 
(1794);  "Mein  Irrtum"  (1793);  "Der  Eroberungskrieg"  (1793); 
"Die  beiden  Graber"  (1793);  "Die  Denkzeiten"  (1793);  "Das 
Versprechen"   (1705). 

2  Lappenberg,  p.  404. 

s  Elizabeth  Smith  II,  37. 


122  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

brightly  in  his  own  heart.  The  members  of  that  loyal  band 
of  literary  men,  the  Gottinger  Hainbund,  wrote  to  him, 
March  24,  1774:  "When  the  oak-tree  rustled,  when  our 
hearts  trembled,  the  moon  shone  forth  more  brightly,  and 
our  devotion  (Bund)  to  God,  freedom,  and  fatherland 
found  expression  in  our  embraces  and  hand-grasps;  even 
thus  early  we  had  a  premonition,  and  we  said  to  one  an- 
other: 'God  has  blessed  us/  [Oh],  great  man!  You 
wish  to  be  among  us !  Ah,  now  it  is  no  longer  premoni- 
tion; it  is  certainty, — God  has  blessed  us!  ....  Klopstock 
is  among  us!"1 

We  already  know  the  influence  of  Klopstock's  odes  in 
Darmstadt,  and  with  what  a  lively  interest  the  Countess 
Karoline  there  collected  and  published  them.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1774  the  nobility  again  recognized  Klopstock  when 
Margrave  Carl  Frederick  of  Baden  wished  to  have  the  poet 
himself  near  him  and  invited  him  to  sojourn  at  his  court. 
He  writes  to  Klopstock,  August  3,  1774:  "I  am  glad  to 
make  your  personal  acquaintance,  and  to  have  the  poet  of 
religion  and  the  fatherland  in  my  country.  You  desire 
unrestrained  residence,  and  that  you  will  enjoy  with  me  at 
all  times ;  freedom  is  the  noblest  right  of  man,  and  quite 
inseparable  from  all  intellectual  and  literary  pursuits  (Wis- 
senschaften).  I  hope  to  be  able  soon  to  assure  you  how 
much  I  value  your  merits."2 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  one  of  the  Counts 
von  Stolberg3  to  Klopstock,  dated  Strassburg,  May  24, 
1775,  shows  well  the  attitude  of  two  prominent  men  toward 
Klopstock,  and  toward  the  position  of  Germany  in  the  world 
of  letters.     It  relates  to  the  meeting  of  the  Count  with  the 

1  Lappenberg,  p.  256. 

2  Lappenberg,  p.  257 ;    see  p.  259.     See  Strauss,  X,  pp.  145ff. 

3  Lappenberg,  p.  260,  says  "Graf  Christian  von  Stolberg".  Otto 
Lyon,  p.  109,  says  "Graf  Fritz  von  Stolberg". 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  123 

Duke  of  Weimar  and  his  brother,  Prince  Constantine,  a 
youth  of  seventeen.  "He  [the  prince]  spoke  for  half  an 
hour  with  me  about  the  Germans,  English,  and  French.  I 
was  astonished  to  hear  a  young  prince  of  seventeen  hold 
forth  so  intelligently.  He  spoke  of  the  charlatanry  of  French 
philosophy  with  such  sharp  irony  and  at  the  same  time  with 
such  bonhomie,  that  I  marvelled  at  him.  He  asked  me 
what  I  thought  of  Wieland.  I  gave  him  my  opinion, 
frankly,  yet  with  coolness  (trocken).  'I  believe  just  as  you 
do/  he  said;  ■ Wieland  is  most  vain  (eitel),  and  always 
exhausts  his  own  literary  powers.  He  could  become  (a) 
good  (author),  if  he  were  still  young/  'II  pourrait  se 
former  encore',  were  his  words.  You  and  Gluck,  he  said, 
were  the  pride  of  Germany.  The  English  [he  considered] 
the  leading  nation.  'I  hope  your  Excellency  excepts  us 
Germans?'  I  said.  'Oh,  that  is  self  evident!  I  do  not 
include  ourselves  with  the  others!  We  above  all!'  We 
both  expressed  a  hearty  wish  to  see  the  Germans  soon  con- 
testing with  the  French."1 

The  following  extracts  show  well  the  impetus  Klopstock 
gave  to  the  spirit  of  research  in  the  field  of  philology  and 
literature ;  at  the  same  time  they  will  illustrate  to  what  an 
extreme  the  admirers  of  the  poet  went  in  their  praise  and 
worship  of  him,  even  verging  on  the  ridiculous.  F.  D.  Gra- 
ter writes,  January  20,  1797,  to  Klopstock:  "Most  worthy 
among  the  priests  attendant  upon  the  muse  of  the  father- 
land, accept  with  lenient  indulgence  the  small  sacrifice  which 
I  have  laid  on  the  altar  of  this  muse ;  permit  me,  therewith, 
to  reveal  in  some  measure  the  most  sincere  gratitude,  which 
as  silent  tribute,  since  the  first  spring-time  of  my  life,  I  have 
paid  you,  as  father  of  German  patriotism, — at  least  as  the 
creator  of  my  own  patriotism.     I  should  require  more  per- 

1  Lappenberg,  pp.  261  ff. 


124  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

feet  means  of  expression  to  enumerate  to  you  the  number- 
less sources  of  my  admiration  for  you,  which  borders  on 
wonderment ;  the  veneration  which  uplifts  me ;  and  my  love 
for  you,  which  resembles  the  fondness  of  a  son  for  a  peer- 
less father;  thereby  I  might  justify  the  boldness  with  which 
I  force  myself  upon  you.  Indeed  it  was  one  of  my  greatest 
wishes,  not  by  any  possible  talents  I  might  possess,  which 
are  not  to  be  considered  at  all,  but  through  an  indefatigable 
zeal  in  searching  for,  and  in  cultivating,  native  treasures  of 
antiquity,  to  make  myself  at  least  so  deserving  of  the  name 
of  German  as  to  approach  with  some  confidence  the  singer  of 
the  fiery  Hermannsschlacht  and  of  many  odes  to  the  father- 
land, for  whom  every  true  German,  old  and  young,  feels 
an  ardent  love.  Almost  eight  years  ago  I  made  my  debut 
in  the  literature  of  our  fatherland  with  the  'Nordische  Blu- 
men' ;  and  for  more  than  eight  years  it  has  been  my  high- 
est aim  to  win  the  approval  of  the  sacred  poet  of  the  Occi- 
dent. At  the  same  time,  I  was  yet  too  modest  to  venture 
to  approach  him,  because  I  had  so  little  reason  to  expect 
praise ;  and  I  felt  that  for  this  crowning  reward  of  acquain- 
tanceship, I  must  wait  until  perseverance  and  continued 
labor  had  proved  my  merit.  Now  that  five  volumes,  all 
inspired  by  this  same  motive,  have  left  my  hand;  that  a 
new  volume  is  ready  to  make  its  appearance ;  and  that  the 
continuation  of  this  work  and  its  results  is  probable ;  I  first 
gather  courage  to  lay  these  attempts  before  a  man  who  does 
not  judge  the  works  of  others  according  to  his  own  exalted 
position,  before  which  only  his  own  writings  need  not  blush, 
but  who  judges  according  to  the  value  of  their  patriotic 
influence,  and  who  will  scarcely  fail  to  recognize  a  pure  and 
generous  love  of  fatherland,  which  time  will  always  effect- 
ually distinguish  from  a  momentary  outburst  of  patriotism. 
This  is  all  I  can  say  and  perhaps  too  much/' 

"How  much  I  desire  to  see  you  face  to  face  even  yet  in 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  125 

this  life !  A  precious  but  futile  wish !  I  shall  be  fortunate 
enough  if  here  below  you  at  least  consider  me  worthy  of 
your  support,  your  patriotic  affection,  and  a  letter.  Above, 
where  our  respected  fathers  dwell,  some  day  I  shall  rush 
into  your  arms,  glorified  and  transfigured."1  Two  years 
later  Grater  pours  forth  the  wildest  praise :  " .  . .  .  dear 
and  most  venerable  father,  ardently  loved  by  a  heart  pos- 
sessed with  a  pure  love  for  the  fatherland  .  . .  .  O  beloved, 
infinitely  precious,  great,  peerless,  unmatched  one,  whom 
our  German  fatherland  will  never  forget  as  long  as  it  exists 
....  first  among  all  Germans  ....  most  glorious,  best, 
greatest  of  men  !"2 

But  above  all  let  us  not  forget  Klopstock's  great  influence 
on  Fichte,  that  animated,  moving  spirit  during  the  period 
of  the  Wars  of  Liberation.  He  writes  to  Klopstock,  June 
22,  1793:  "Du  Einziger,  der  im  friihsten  Knabenalter  mei- 
nem  Auge  die  erste  Thrane  der  Running  entlockte, — der 
zuerst  den  Sinn  fur's  Erhabene,  die  einzige  Triebfeder  mei- 
ner  sittlichen  Giite,  in  mir  weckte,  wurde  ich  meinen  Dank 
auf  ein  Leben  aufgespart  haben,  in  welchem  die  Entfernung 
der  irdischen  Schlacken  am  Dankenden  nichts  zu  denken 
ubrig  lasst  als  den  Dank,  wenn  ich  nicht  jetzt  auf  eine  viel- 
leicht  nicht  ganz  ungiiltige  Art  bei  diesem  Einzigen  einge- 
ftihrt  wurde."3 

Let  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  Herder.  That  fervent 
spirit  of  patriotism  and  humanity  which  animated  Klop- 
stock and  found  early  utterance  in  his  works,  also  entered 
the  heart  of  young  Herder,  and  found  its  first  expression  in 
the  short  poem,  "Gesang  an  den  Cyrus".  This,  the  first 
literary  production  of  Herder,  is  full  of  patriotic  feeling, 
expressing  admiration,  however,  not  for  the  young  poet's 

• 1  Lappenberg,  pp.  37Sff. 

2  Lappenberg,  pp.  404ff. 

3  Lappenberg,  p.  356. 


126  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

own  monarch,  Frederick  the  Great,  but  celebrating  Peter  III 
of  Russia,  who  ascended  the  throne,  January  5,  1762.  The 
military  triumphs  of  Frederick  did  not  stir  Herder  to  ad- 
miration, as  in  the  case  of  Klopstock's  "Kriegslied"  (1749)  ; 
but  the  magnanimity  displayed  by  the  foreign  ruler  in  giv- 
ing up  willingly  and  peacefully  all  Prussian  territory  in 
possession  of  the  Russians,  and  recalling  his  subjects, 
aroused  in  the  young  poet's  heart  a  feeling  of  patriotic 
gratitude  toward  this  "prince  of  peace,  the  anointed  of  God, 
the  shepherd  of  his  people".  Even  thus  early  the  ideal 
and  universal  tendency  of  Herder's  patriotism  becomes 
clear;  it  seeks  nobility  of  character,  as  displayed  in  the 
personality  of  a  monarch,  even  though  it  must  find  it  in  the 
king  of  an  alien  people.  In  the  same  way,  we  will  recall, 
Klopstock  turned  away  from  the  Prussian  ruler  to  the  king 
of  Denmark. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  Herder  read  Klopstock's  "Bar- 
denpoesie"  in  Trescho's  library,  and  that  his  interest  in  the 
Old  German  language  and  in  national  poetry  was  first 
aroused  during  the  years  he  served  as  Trescho's  secretary 
( 1760-62). 1  Although  the  last  assertion  is  doubtless  true, 
it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  or  not  Herder  saw 
any  of  Klopstock's  early  patriotic  odes  while  still  in  Mohr- 
ungen,  for  we  know  that  the  best  known  of  all  the  odes 
appeared  only  periodically  in  pamphlets,  and  that  many  of 
them  were  circulated  only  in  manuscript;2  it  is  more  prob- 
able that  he  read  the  "Prayer  of  a  Good  King",  which  had 
appeared  in  Hamburg,  in  1753,  as  one  of  the  "Drei  Gebete 
eines  Freigeistes,  Christen  und  Guten  Konigs",  and  which 

1  Wm.  Grohmann,  p.  11. 

2  It  is  possible  that  Trescho  was.  a  subscriber  to  some  of  the 
periodicals  in  which  the  odes  were  published — "Bremer  Beitrage", 
for  example.  In  that  case  Herder  might  have  read  them  while  still 
in  Mohrungen. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  127 

might  very  easily  have  been  in  Trescho's  possession.  This 
work  would  have  been  more  than  sufficient  to  inspire  Her- 
der to  give  recognition  to  Peter  III  and  his  action,  as  he 
did,  and  to  arouse  his  patriotism. 

In  Koenigsberg  Herder's  patriotic  feelings  find  a  sim- 
ilar expression  in  at  least  one  poem,  "An  Herzog  Ernst 
Johann"  (June  22,  1763). 1  Duke  Ernst  Johann  of  Cur- 
land,  banished  since  1740,  had  been  recalled  by  Peter  III, 
and  was  given  back  his  dukedom  by  Catherine  II,  who 
had  negotiated  his  restoration  with  Frederick  of  Prussia. 
Herder  wrote  his  poem  of  welcome  upon  this  occasion. 
He  credits  Frederick  the  Great  with  an  interest  in  the 
duke's  welfare,  and  expresses  the  feeling  of  joy  which 
the  people  of  Curland  experienced  upon  the  return  of  their 
former  ruler,  who  came  back  to  them  as  a  "father  return- 
ing to  his  orphan  children".  The  advent  of  their  old  leader 
is  to  mark  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  Russian  province  the 
beginning  of  a  new  golden  age; — Curland,  'which  borders 
on  Frederick's  state  and  fortune,  is  to  be  the  country  where 
magnanimity  rules,  and  industry  and  fidelity  dwell;  where 
virtue  blooms,  because  God  and  Ernst  reward  it'.  Her- 
der's patriotic  ideals,  as  before  in  Mohrungen,  here,  too, 
find  their  realization  in  the  noble  character  of  a  foreign 
ruler.  It  is  humanity  again,  as  expressed  in  a  worthy 
"father  of  men",  which  arouses  Herder's  patriotic  feeling. 

But,  whereas  patriotism  aroused  Klopstock's  poetic 
genius  and  inspired  him  to  artistic  productions,  in  Herder 
it  early  fixed  his  critical  sense  and  turned  his  talents  to  best 
advantage  in  the  field  of  criticism  and  history.  Klopstock's 
more  intense  study  of  the  Northern  languages  and  litera- 
ture dates  probably  from  1766,  and  becomes  most  promi- 
nent, as  we  have  noted,  in  the  years  1768  and  1769.  It 
would  seem,  however,  that  Herder's  historical  interest  was 

1  Suphan  XXIX,  5. 


128  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

aroused  earlier  in  life;  if  not  in  Mohrungen,  at  least  dur- 
ing the  years  he  spent  in  Koenigsberg  (1762-1764).  He 
and  Hamann  must  have  discussed  Northern  literature  and 
Germanic  history,  if  we  may  judge  from  a  letter  which 
Hamann  writes  to  Herder,  June  30,  1765:  "The  long- 
wished  for  Edda  I  have  already  read  here,  and  am  in  a  fair 
way  to  fix  my  attention  on  the  history  of  our  fatherland, 
for  which  I  have  both  opportunity  and  means ....  Your 
intention  of  learning  the  Lettic  language,  dear  friend,  pleases 
me."1  Less  than  a  year  later  Hamann  writes:  "Since 
Easter  I  have  begun  Lettic."2  Here,  then,  at  least,  Her- 
der had  undoubtedly  inspired  his  own  great  teacher. 

In  the  Baltic  city  of  Riga,  Herder's  first  real  interest  in, 
and  understanding  for,  politics  and  affairs  of  state  were 
awakened.3  Here,  in  this  "republic  within  a  monarchy", 
he  found  a  second  and  better  fatherland" — 

"Dein  Mutterschoos  empfing  den  Fremdling  sanfter, 
Als  sein  verjochtes  Vaterland!"* 

He  felt  keenly  the  spirit  of  love  for  country  and  ruler 
which  animated  the  hearts  of  his  new  friends  among  the 
citizens  of  Riga,  and  found  himself  in  turn  filled  with  this 
sturdy  patriotism.5  Here  he  was  once  and  forever  impressed 
by  the  great  blessings  of  political  freedom.  He  became  a 
most  enthusiastic  patriot  of  Riga, — a  Russian  patriot,  with 
a  genuine  love  for  Russia's  monarchs.  He  apostrophizes 
Peter  the  Great — "O  great  father  of  your  Fatherland! 
Your  patriotic  spirit  is  great  enough  to  fill  the  hearts  of  ten 
regents,  each  one  of  whom  would  call  forth  our  respect",6 

1  Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  90.    Hamann  to  Herder,  June  30,  1765. 

2  Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  133— Hamann  to  Herder,  April  19,  1766. 

3  Erinnerungen  I,  97. 

4  "Als  ich  von  Liefland  aus  zu  Schiffe  ging", — May-June,  1769. 
XXIX,  319.  Cf.  Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  173,  (Sept.  1766.)  Similarly 
Klopstock  found  a  second  fatherland  in  Denmark. 

5  Erinnerungen  I,  111-113. 

•  Suphan  I,  25,  (1765).    Also  XXIX,  380,  (1773). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  129 

— and  pays  the  warmest  poetic  tribute  to  the  empress, 
Catharine  II.  The  picture  which  Herder  draws  of  Cath- 
arine, as  ruler  of  her  people,  reminds  one  very  forcefully 
of  Klopstock's  praises  of  Frederick  V  of  Denmark,  and  of 
his  "Prayer  of  a  Good  King",  (1763).  She  who  is  seated 
on  Europe's  highest  dais,  says  Herder,  is  still  mother  of 
her  people;  her  scepter  is  one  of  mercy.  God  looks  upon 
her  as  "daughter  of  His  throne",  and  promises  to  grant 
what  she  would  ask  of  Him.  She  does  not  wish  for  glory, 
riches,  or  laurels,  which  crown  only  the  enemies  of  human- 
ity; all  she  would  ask  is  a  mother's  heart,  and  Solomon's 
wisdom,  both  to  be  used  to  the  good  of  her  land  and  chil- 
dren. As  mother,  monarch,  empress,  she  creates  peace  and 
happiness  for  her  subjects.1  God  has  made  her  mother  of 
a  nation,  just  as  he  himself  is  father  of  the  world  and 
humanity.  Riga  is  dependent  upon  Catherine's  scepter  as 
the  earth  is  upon  that  of  God.2 

Although  Herder  became  such  an  enthusiastic  Russian 
patriot,  seeing  in  that  land  great  possibilities  for  the  future 
in  the  development  of  freedom,  at  heart  he  remained  true 
to  his  German  blood.  In  Liefland  and  Riga  the  German 
population  was  in  the  majority,  and  hence  German  senti- 
ment and  civilization  was  predominant.3  Here,  by  contrast 
with  their  Slavic  neighbors,  the  Germans  became  more  con- 
scious of  that  higher  culture,  which,  passed  on  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  for  centuries,  had  become  part  of 
their  natural  inheritance.  So,  too,  Herder,  as  pastor  and 
teacher,  feels  keenly  that  it  is  his  duty  to  spread  the  mes- 
sage of  this  culture,  which  he,  as  an  educated  German,  has 

1  "Hymnus  auf  Katharinens  Thronbesteigung",  (1765)— XXIX, 
24.  Compare  "Am  Namensfeste  der  Monarchin",  (1768)  and  "Als 
Peter sich  vermahlte  mit  Karoline  Lowise",  (1765). 

2Suphan  XXIX,  11.     "Lobgesang  am  Neujahrsfest"   (1765). 

3  Krohnert,  p.  6. 


130  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

to  bring  to  "Liefland,  the  province  of  barbarism  and  luxury, 
of  ignorance  and  acquired  taste,  of  freedom  and  slavery."1 
At  the  same  time  that  Klopstock,  in  Denmark,  was  study- 
ing the  Northern  language  and  literature,  and  endeavoring 
to  give  Norse  mythology  a  permanent  place  in  German 
poetry,  Herder,  also  an  exile  in  Riga,  was  trying  through 
his  critical  works  to  arouse  the  interest  of  his  countrymen 
in  their  own  past  history, — not  merely  political,  but  cultural 
and  literary  as  well.  He  considered  language  the  most 
precious  possession  of  a  nation,2  through  which  it  is  edu- 
cated, cultured  and  "humanized".3  The  honor  of  a  people 
depends  largely  upon  the  preservation  of  its  language.4  In 
it  dwells  the  whole  world  of  a  nation's  thought  and  feeling ; 
it  contains  its  traditions,  history,  religious  conceptions,  and 
principles  of  life;  it  preserves  national  spirit;  it  is  the  very 
heart  and  soul  of  a  country.5  Herder  therefore  believed 
that  no  greater  calamity  could  befall  a  country  than  to  be 
bereft  of  its  language,  and,  with  that,  of  its  national  char- 
acter. In  this  respect,  he  says,  Germany,  due  to  her  unfor- 
tunate geographical  position  and  political  organization,  suf- 
fered more  than  any  other  country  when  Roman  civiliza- 
tion was  introduced.6  But  the  German  language,  above 
all,  is,  and  always  has  been,  Herder  asserts,  an  original, 
individual,  national  language,  filled  with  the  very  life  and 
blood  of  our  forefathers.7  If  it  was  forced  to  give  way 
to  Latin  as  a  language  of  learning,  as  the  language  of  the 
people  it  was  preserved  in  all  its  original  vigor  and  beauty. 

1  Suphan  IV,  362,  (1767). 

2 Suphan  XVII,  58,  59,  (1793). 

3 Suphan  XVII,  58,  59,  (1793)  ;    XVIII,  387  (1795). 

4  Suphan  XVII,  210. 

5  Suphan  II,  41,  (1768) ;  IX,  391 ;  XVII,  58,  59,  (1793) ;  210,  287; 
XVI,  604,  605;   XVIII,  336,  384,  387,  (1795). 

6  Suphan  I,  364,  (1767). 

7  Suphan  II,  30,  (1768);  I,  166,  173,  (1767;  IV,  116,  (1769). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  131 

Among  the  Suabians  it  gave  birth  to  Minnesongs  whose 
language,  Herder  believes,  posesses  a  charm  and  nobility, 
which,  in  many  respects,  modern  German  has  lost.1  These 
old  poets  are  our  fathers,  and  their  language  is  the  source 
of  our  modern  tongue.  Their  poetry  is  the  oldest  monu- 
ment of  the  German  nation;  a  model  of  poetic  greatness 
and  the  true  original  of  our  language;  it  reflects  the  char- 
acter of  the  early  Germans.  The  church  (Klosterlateiner) 
robbed  us  of  these  bards.  Herder  regrets  that,  although 
Karl  the  Great  so  loved  and  admired  these  old  songs  that 
he  had  them  collected,  he,  nevertheless,  destroyed  the  old 
Germanic,  barbaric  spirit  which  alone  could  produce  them.2 
Herder  pleads  that  these  poets,  the  oldest  fathers  of 
German  poetry,  be  read,  studied,  and  venerated.  He  urges 
his  countrymen  to  study,  along  with  these  old  writers,  the 
language  of  the  Meistersinger,  of  Opitz,  Logau,  and  Luther ; 
and  above  all  to  read  Klopstock  more  carefully;  'this 
genius,  who,  in  the  German  language  assumed  a  creative 
spirit  and  first  spread  this  spirit  of  freedom  in  Germany.' 
The  study  of  an  original  poet  like  Klopstock  opens  the  way 
for  the  student  of  philosophy  to  grasp  the  genius  of  a 
language,  and  thus  to  compare  it  with  the  genius  of  a 
nation.3  In  Klopstock,  then,  Herder  sees  the  old  original, 
strong,  vigorous  Germanic  spirit  revived.  Herder  pene- 
trates beyond  the  beauties  of  Klopstock's  poetry  and  reaches 
the  very  soul  of  the  man,  even  of  the  German  people. 

The  chief  motive  of  Herder,  as  of  Klopstock,  in  urging 
the  rediscovery  of  Germany's  past  was  a  patriotic  one.  He 
says  that  if  the  Germans  were  more  zealous  in  acquainting 
themselves  with  their  old  national  songs  and  poetry,  they 
would  not  only  penetrate  the  poetic  world  of  thought  of 

iSuphan  II,  248,  (1768). 
2Suphan  II,  246,  (1768). 
sSuphan  I,  165,   (1767). 


132  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

their  ancestors,  but  also  find  works  which  would  approach 
in  merit  the  ballads  of  the  English,  the  songs  of  the  French 
troubadours,  the  romances  of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  festive 
"sagoliuds"  of  the  old  Scalds.1  It  is  his  ambition  to  see 
his  fatherland  occupy  that  high  position  among  literary 
nations  of  which  she  is  worthy,  if  she  would  but  herself 
realize  it.  But  Herder  is  not  pessimistic  as  to  her  future. 
He  prophesies  a  time  when  the  German  language  will  re- 
turn to  its  old  simplicity  and  strength,  throwing  off  its 
many  useless  and  borrowed  gems.  He  rejoices  in  a  future 
harvest  of  original  prose  writers,  each  one  of  whom  will 
possess  an  individual  style.  He  sees  in  some  of  his  con- 
temporaries "the  dawn  and  harbingers  of  this  time."2 

Riga,  with  its  political  freedom  and  the  active  patrio- 
tism displayed  by  its  citizens,  appears  to  Herder  to  be  an 
ideal  place  for  the  cultivation  of  art  and  science.  Even 
after  he  had  left  Riga,  and  is  in  Nantes,  he  thinks  of  the 
possibility  of  making  a  perfect  state  out  of  the  Russian 
province,  where  the  physical  and  spiritual  powers  of  man 
could  be  fully  cultivated  and  developed.  He  wonders  if 
he  himself  is  great  enough  to  assume,  as  the  guiding  genius 
of  Liefland,  the  position  of  a  second  Zwingli,  Calvin,  or 
Luther.  He  feels  most  powerfully  the  contrast  between 
the  noble  activity  of  such  a  reformer  and  his  own  selfish 
life,  hitherto  spent  among  books  and  at  the  writing-table. 
He  would  put  to  practical  service  all  he  has  read  and  learned 
for  the  welfare  of  all  humanity.3  The  thought  of  becoming 
a  law-giver  for  princes  and  kings  appeals  to  him,  and  he 
believes  that  there  never  was  a  more  opportune  time.  'All 
of  Europe  has  experienced  a  universal  degeneration;  the 
spirit  of  the  Hanseatic  towns  has  disappeared  from  North- 

iSuphan  I,  266,   (1767). 

2Suphan  II,  288,   (1768). 

3  Suphan  IV,  362-4  371,  401-403.     (1769). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  133 

ern  Europe,  and  someone  must  needs  revive  it.'  The 
ideal  place  for  such  a  beginning,  Herder  believes,  is  Riga; 
Germany,  although  much  further  advanced  culturally,  can- 
not hope  for  such  an  honor  on  account  of  her  political 
situation.  The  leader  of  such  a  movement  would  be  greater 
than  Zwingli  or  Calvin.1  Herder  wishes  he  had  not  writ- 
ten the  "Kritische  Walder".  But  he  will  try  to  put  off  the 
spirit  which  urges  him  to  literary  work,  and  will  try  to  court 
the  spirit  which  would  force  him  to  external  activity.  What 
a  great  accomplishment  it  would  be  if  he  could  make  of 
Riga  a  happy  city  where  freedom  and  culture  should  always 
rule !  Here  would  be  born  the  spirit  of  a  new  culture, 
which,  passing  over  all  Europe,  would  arouse  every  people 
from  their  lethargy.2  Such  is  Herder's  dream,  born  of  his 
patriotism  and  his  love  for  humanity.  Herder's  friends, 
too,  felt  the  power  of  this  spirit  which  animated  him. 
Berens  writes  to  him,  December,  1769:  "What  city  will  not 
esteem  you  and  love  you,  and  what  prince  will  give  you  up, 
if  he  is  at  all  just  in  his  estimation  of  you."3 

Herder  once  said:  "Even  birds  of  passage  nest  where 
they  were  hatched,  and  the  most  wretched,  the  most  rugged 
fatherland  has  often  the  strongest  ties  for  the  race  which 
becomes  accustomed  to  it."4  Thus  it  was  with  Herder  him- 
self. Travel  and  absence  abroad,  with  added  experience 
and  knowledge  of  other  countries,  always  caused  the  love 
of  fatherland  in  him  to  grow  deeper,  and  awakened  in  him 
a  fervent  longing  to  return  to  his  people.  In  spite  of  the 
enthusiasm  which  he  felt  for  Russia  while  living  in  Riga, 
he  always  cherished  the  warmest  love  for  Germany.     This 

1  Suphan  IV,  405. 

2Suphan  IV,  408.  Compare  IV,  132,  (1769):  "We  Germans 
quarrel  over  words,  as  other  nations  do  over  things — we  are  happy 
in  explanations  as  others  in  inventions". 

3Lebensbild  II,  133. 

4  Suphan  XIII,  26,    (1784). 


134  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

becomes  evident  from  a  letter  written  to  Caroline  from 
Strassburg,  the  first  year  of  his  return :  "Oh,  I  have  always 
looked  forward  with  pleasure  to  seeing  once  more  the 
scenes  of  my  childhood, — my  fatherland ! — How  happy  I  am 
now  I"1  Even  in  Italy  Herders  patriotism  manifests  itself. 
He  writes  to  Frau  von  Diede,  February  10,  1789:  "Slowly 
I  am  drawing  nearer  to  Germany, — a  country  and  a  people 
whom  I  treasure  and  love  now  even  still  more  than  be- 
fore, since  I  have  become  acquainted  with  Italy  and  have 
seen  the  spirit  and  activity  of  the  Italian  people/'2 

It  was  in  France,  however,  and  above  all  in  the  city  of 
Paris,  that  Herder's  ardent  love  for  his  own  people  was 
most  forcibly  and  fully  aroused;  here  he  felt  keenly  the 
contrast  between  the  spirit  and  culture  of  the  French  and 
the  German  nations,  and  his  German  nature  recalled  his 
fatherland  to  him  and  caused  him  to  realize  the  great  merits 
of  his  own  race  and  country.  He  writes  to  Hartknoch 
from  Paris,  December,  1769:  "Taste  (Gout)  and  splendor 
in  art  and  institutions  have  their  center  in  Paris.  But  since 
taste  is  only  the  most  superficial  conception  of  beauty,  and 
splendor  only  an  outward  show,  which  often  covers  faults, 
France  can  never  satisfy  me,  and  I  am  heartily  tired  of  it."3 
A  few  days  before  he  wrote  to  Nicolai  that  his  patriotism 
for  Germany  grew  stronger  in  him,  whereas  in  most  exiles 
it  is  wont  to  grow  weaker.     "I  learn  to  judge  more  accur- 

i  Lebensbild  III,  1,  p  .209. 

2  Briefwechsel  mit  seiner  Gattin,  p.  246. 

3  Lebensbild  II,  123.  Compare  Erinnerungen,  pp.  128-129. 
Suphan  XXIX,  416.     "Ihr  Deutsche,  nun  flieh  ich  zu  Euch; 

ihr  fiihlt  Natur  und  Gottes  Lieder, 
bringt  mich  zu  meiner  Einfalt  wieder 
verjunget  in  mein  Konigreich." 
We  will  recall,  too,  Herder's  estimate  of  the  Frenchman's  lack  of 
genuine  interest  in,  and  knowledge  of,  German  literature,  and  his 
statement,  that  Klopstock  and  his  poetry  could  not  be  comprehended 
by  the  French  mind. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  135 

ately,  and  to  get  a  better  conception  of  German  literature, 
the  more  I  become  acquainted  with  other  peoples.  I  travel 
among  foreign  peoples,  so  that  I  may  sometime  later  give 
myself  up  more  perfectly  to  my  fatherland."1  This,  then, 
from  1769  on,  becomes  Herder's  guiding  motive  in  spite  of 
occasional  references  to  Curland  ;2  he  no  longer  allows  Ger- 
many's political  situation  to  discourage  him,  but  accepts  his 
country  as  it  is,  and  directs  all  his  energy  and  talents  toward 
developing  and  improving  his  own  people. 

Herder  realized  the  position  and  duties  of  the  poet  in 
arousing  the  patriotism  which  expresses  itself  in  active 
deeds  for  the  fatherland.  Already  in  1767  he  recognized 
the  patriotic  sentiments  of  Gleim's  poems,  which,  however, 
were  confined  to  one  province  (Prussia)  instead  of  to  all 
of  Germany.3  In  Klopstock  Herder  found  a  poet  who 
was  not  provincial  but  truly  national.  In  1769  he  quotes 
from  Klopstock's  poem,  "Das  neue  Jahrhundert"  (1760), 
and  says:  "At  a  time  when  the  word,  'fatherland',  is  not 
yet  an  empty  sound,  but 

'Silberton  dem  Ohre ! 

Licht  dem  Verstand  und  hoher  Flug  zu  denken, 

Dem  Herzen  gross  Gefuhl' — 

then  the  name,  'fatherland',  must  make  a  hero  of  the  poet 
as  well  as  a  poet  of  the  hero,  and  make  both  affectionate 
sons  of  their  fatherland.     The  hero  will  fight  for  it ;    the 

1  Brw.  mit  Nicolai,  p.  52.    Nov.  30,  1769. 

2Nachlass  III,  364.  Herder  to  Caroline,  1772.  "In  Curland 
more  can  be  done  than  in  poor,  disrupted  Germany,  which  suffers 
under  its  armies." 

3  Suphan  I,  336.  (1767).  "Gleim's  are  national  songs  full  of 
Prussian  patriotism."  II,  88,  (1768)  "Let  Gleim  be  a  reminder  to 
make  use  of  the  history of  our  fatherland  and  to  become  na- 
tional poets." 

Suphan  VIII,  430.  (1788)  "Germany's  political  and  religious 
state  prevented  the  'Messiah'  from  becoming  national.  Gleim's 
'Prussian  Grenadier'  was  only  a  Prussian  grenadier  in  a  war  in 
which  Germans  fought  against  Germans." 


136  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

poet  will  sing;  and  if  both  can  no  longer  save  it,  both,  as 
sons,  will  mourn  over  it.  And  now,  poet,  hero,  and  son  of 
fatherland  are  one  person;  this  is  the  time  of  patriotic 
songs  of  lament.  They  will  flow  out  of  a  full  heart,  not 
only  on  paper,  but  will  be  retained  in  the  memory  and  live 
on  in  the  soul.  Tradition  will  preserve  them;  the  people 
(das  Volk)  will  sing  them;  they  will  move  to  tears  and 
deeds.  They  are  the  treasures  of  a  nation,  and  the  emo- 
tions they  express  are  the  emotions  of  that  people;  they 
possess  national  spirit, — one  great  feeling  of  patriotism/'1 
What  an  important  place  Klopstock's  patriotic  odes  occu- 
pied in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  we  can  learn  clearly 
from  two  letters  which  Caroline  Flachsland  sent  to  Herder.2 
She  writes,  in  December,  1771 :  "The  odes  to  the  father- 
land are  noble  and  sublime;  those  which  I  understand  are 
excellent,  and  just  what  my  old  German  heart  (which  is 
often  a  cause  for  ridicule)  longs  for.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  deeds  of  our  ancestors,  who  were  human,  must  neces- 
sarily have  a  greater  effect  on  us  than  all  the  odes  of  Olym- 
pus. I  always  shudder  when  Hermann  or  a  bard  is  called 
forth  from  his  old  moss-covered  grave.  Poor  Klopstock 
probably  shouts  into  deaf  ears  and  unresponsive  hearts."3 
In  a  letter  written  the  preceding  month,  Caroline  expres- 
ses the  anxious  longing  for  a  happy,  united  fatherland, 
which  filled  the  hearts  of  all  noble-minded  Germans  of  her 
time.  Klopstock's  odes,  particularly  his  "Vaterlandslied" 
(1770),  have,  she  says,  stirred  her  patriotic  feeling  and 
caused  her  to  lament  that  Germany  is  no  longer  the  power- 
ful nation  she  was.  She  finds  comfort  and  happiness  in 
singing  this  poem  to  herself : 

iSuphan  III,  30,  (1769). 

2  See  also  the  chapter  on  Klopstock's  lyrical  poetry. 

SNachlass  III,  154. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  137 

"Ich  bin  ein  deutsches  Madchen; 
Mein  Aug'  ist  blau  und  sanft  mein  Blick, 
Ich  nab'  ein  Herz,  das  edel  ist, 
Und  stolz  und  gut." 

"Ah,  alas !  Our  fatherland  is  only  a  phantom  of  our  fore- 
fathers !  Especially  for  men,  and  for  a  man  like  you,  Her- 
der! Ah,  there  one  must  create  an  ideal  fatherland.  Let 
it  be  but  a  sweet  dream,  if  it  cannot  be  real !  Is  it  not  so, 
my  beloved?  We  slumber  and  dream  this  dream  safely 
and  peacefully;  the  way  which  God  commanded."1  These 
words  are  but  the  reflection  of  Herder's  own  feelings.  He 
himself,  as  we  know,  had  found  this  ideal  fatherland  pic- 
tured in  Klopstock's  patriotic  poetry  and  paid  tribute  to  it 
in  a  poem,  "Klopstocks  lyrische  Poesie",  written  probably 
the  year  of  the  publication  of  the  Darmstadter  edition  of 
Klopstock's  odes,  (1771).  This  ideal  country  of  the  poet's 
imagination,  he  declares,  shall  be  a  comfort  and  the  guiding 
star  for  a  future  real  and  better  fatherland ;  the  poet  be- 
comes the  prophet  of  the  statesman,  who  makes  reality  of 
what  has  existed  before  only  in  the  singer's  imagination. 

In  "Das  vierte  kritische  Waldchen"  (1769)  Herder  says: 
"In  Greece  it  was  regarded  an  equal  display  of  patriotism 
when  the  same  hand  which  elevated  the  meritorious  men 
of  the  country  also  crushed  the  pillars  of  tyrants.  In  a 
time  of  degeneration  it  is  likewise  patriotic  to  uplift  sinking 
philosophy  and  to  unmask  braying  (schreiend)  ignorance." 
This  was  the  great  task  Herder  set  for  himself  upon  his 
return  to  Germany.  In  his  great  enthusiasm  for  the 
awakening  of  national  spirit  during  his  stay  in  Strassburg 
he  became  interested  even  in  the  Oriental  peoples,  and 
worked  in  the  library  there  "among  Jews,  Arabs,  Egyp- 
tians, Syrians,  Samaritans."2     In  Buckeburg  Herder  read 

1  Nachlass  III,  144. 

2Lebensbild  III,   1,  p.  236.    Herder  to  Caroline,  Oct.  28,   1770. 
Compare  p.  263,  Herder  to  Hartknoch,  Nov.  21,   1770. 


138  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

the  greatest  poets  of  all  ages,  the  ancients,  old  German  poets, 
and  English  folk-songs.  Percy's  "Reliques  of  Early  Eng- 
lish Poetry"  helped  to  inspire  him  to  gather  together  the  old 
songs  of  his  own  nation  and  those  of  other  peoples.  In 
his  essays  on  Ossian  and  Shakespeare  (1773)  he  points  out 
the  importance  of  the  folk-song;  and  in  the  following  year 
appears  his  collection  of  "Volkslieder",  which  contains 
translations  of  Norse  and  Danish  songs.1  During  the 
period  spent  in  Biickeburg,  and  the  first  portion  of  his  stay 
in  Weimar,  Herder's  interest  in  Germanic  studies  was  at 
its  height. 

Herder's  patriotism  is  given  a  powerful  expression  in  the 
essays  "Von  deutscher  Art  und  Kunst"  (1773)  and  "Von 
Aehnlichkeit  der  mittleren  englischen  und  deutschen  Dicht- 
kunst"  (1777);  they  reveal  his  proud  German  sentiment. 
As  before  in  the  "Fragmente",  but  now  more  forcibly,  Her- 
der admonishes  the  Germans  and  appeals  to  their  patrio- 
tism to  gather  and  preserve  the  fragments  of  their  old 
poetry,  as  the  English  have  done.2  He  himself  was  inter- 
ested in  the  Volkslied  in  order,  primarily,  to  rediscover  the 
national  spirit  and  character  of  the  Germans.3  In  his  en- 
thusiasm Herder  seems  for  a  moment  to  forget  Klopstock 
when  he  says  that  Germany  is  still  saturated  with  the  spirit 
of  classicism;4  it  has,  as  yet,  no  living  poetry  of  its  own 
antiquity  out  of  which  a  Shakespeare  or  a  Spencer,  at  once 
a  great  and  a  truly  national  poet,  could  grow.5  Herder 
laments  that  Germany  has  always  been  a  lawgiver  and 
servant  to  foreign  nations,  so  that  she  has  never  been  per- 

1  Erinnerungen  I,  187. 

2  Suphan  IX,  522,  524,  527.  This  thought  received  poetic  expres- 
sion before  in  "An  den  Genius  von  Deutschland"  (1770). 

3  Suphan  IX,  532. 

4  Suphan  IX,  524. 

3  Suphan  IX,  528,  530. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  139 

mitted  to  exercise  her  own  character.1  She  has  always  been 
devastated,  he  says,  by  foreigners,  who  took  with  them 
whatever  was  valuable  and  gave  alms  in  return;  these  the 
kind-hearted  Germans  accepted  humbly,  and  in  admiration 
of  these  paltry  gifts  they  forgot  the  better  endowments 
which  they  themselves  still  possessed.  Thus  Germany  re- 
mained a  divided,  illunified  country;  always  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  others  and  always  imitating  others.  She 
was  never  able  to  marshal  all  her  powers,  and  to  realize  her 
true  self  or  to  benefit  by  her  own  merits.2 

If  Herder  here  expresses  sentiments  similar  to  those 
uttered  by  Klopstock  many  years  before,  he  resembles  the 
latter  poet  also  in  his  great  optimism  and  confidence  in  Ger- 
many's future.  He  calls  aloud  in  tones  that  vibrate  with 
love  and  patriotism :  "Great  and  noble  tongue !  Great  and 
strong  people!  You  have  given  to  all  Europe  customs, 
laws,  inventions,  rulers;   and  now  you  accept  regency  from 

all  Europe German  classical  literature  is  a  bird  of 

Paradise,  many  colored,  brilliant,  but  all  'flight  and  height' 
(ganz  Flug,  ganz  Hohe) — without  firm  footing  on  German 

soil Great  kingdom  of  ten  peoples — Germany — you 

have  no  Shakespeare !  Have  you  no  songs  of  your  fore- 
fathers, of  which  you  could  be  proud?  Swiss,  Suabians, 
Franks,  Bavarians,  Westphalians,  Saxons,  Wends,  Prus- 
sians,— all  of  you  possess  nothing?  The  voice  of  your 
fathers  has  become  silenced  in  dust.  People  of  courageous 
morals,  of  noble  virtues  and  language,  have  you  nothing 
which  bears  the  impress  of  your  souls  ?    ....    They  have 

i  Suphan  IX,  528. 

2 Suphan  VIII,  423,  (1778);  IX,  362,  (1779).  This  thought 
finds  poetic  expression  in  "Eine  Erscheinung"  (1770). 

Suphan  IX,  532— Herder  quotes  from  Klopstock's  ode,  "Mein 
Vaterland",  1768: 

"Nie  war  gegen  das  Ausland 

ein  anderes  Land  gerecht  wie  Du!" 


140  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

existed;  they  perhaps  still  exist;  only  they  are  buried  in 
dust,  unknown  or  ignored    [that  is,  poems  of  Germany's 

antiquity] The  light  of  the  so-called  culture  [of  our 

day]  would  illumine  every  corner,  and  such  things  are  left 
lying  among  the  cobwebs !  Set  to  work,  my  brethren,  and 
show  our  nation  what  it  is  and  what  it  is  not ! — how  it 
thought  and  felt,  or  how  it  thinks  and  feels. 'n  But  at  the 
same  time  Herder  sounds  a  note  of  hope  and  encourage- 
ment: "But  poor,  torn,  trampled  Germany,  have  hopes! 
Your  distress  will  cease !  .  . . .  The  feeling  of  nationality  in 
itself,  its  sympathetic  spirit,  will  produce  loving  poets/'2 

But  in  his  literary  endeavors  and  great  anxiety  to  raise 
Germany  to  a  high  position  among  cultured  nations,  Herder 
does  not  lose  sight  of  the  importance  of  the  more  practical 
sciences  and  other  branches  of  knowledge,  and  the  need  of 
the  cooperation  of  the  state  for  their  advancement.  He 
recognizes  that  patriotism  has  a  real,  practical  side;  that 
man  needs  a  foothold,  as  a  tree  its  soil.3  This  foothold  is 
his  state;  and  it  is  all-important.  The  human  race  has 
never  been  without  some  form  of  government ;  this  is  as 
natural  for  it  as  the  union  of  its  members  into  races.  Gov- 
ernmental organizations  existed  before  the  sciences  and 
arts,  and  is  a  prerequisite  to  the  very  existence  of  the  lat- 
ter.4 Thus  Herder  even  places  government  above  intel- 
lectual studies,  when  he  says  that  it  is  the  right,  and  phi- 
losophy the  left  arm  of  humanity.5  Then,  too,  we  can 
understand  his  statement,  that  to  found  a  state  is  greater 
than  to  compose  a  poem,   and  to  establish  a   republic  is 

i  Suphan  IX,  530. 
2Suphan  VIII,  432,  (1778). 

3  Suphan  IV  212,  (1767). 

4  Suphan  IX,  313,  (1779). 

5  Suphan  XVII,  107,  (1793). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  141 

greater  than  to  write  a  comedy.1  On  government  depends 
the  welfare  of  a  nation.  If  the  government  degenerates, 
then  does  also  education,  and  with  it  all  intellectual  pur- 
suits, freedom,  the  courage  of  a  people,  everything.2  On 
the  other  hand,  the  more  the  government  cherishes  wisdom, 
kindness,  and  true  humanism,  the  more  will  its  education 
be  animated  by  such  a  genius  and  make  such  results  pos- 
sible.3 He  believed  that  it  is  not  the  best  omen  for  future 
progress  that  in  Germany  the  government  hesitates  to  pro- 
mote intellectual  studies  (Wissenschaften).4  The  state  he 
considers  the  mother  of  its  children,  and  its  duties  are  to 
care  for  the  health,  strength,  and  spiritual  welfare  of  all.5 
He  often  said  that  the  state  had  nothing  which  lay  nearer 
its  heart  than  the  education  of  its  youth.6 

Herder  also  recognized  fully  the  importance  to  the  state 
of  education  and  the  pursuit  of  the  sciences.  Fame  and 
gratitude,  he  believed,  are  due  every  leader  who  seeks  to 
advance  the  unification  (Gemeinschaft)  of  the  German 
provinces  through  literature,  commerce,  or  social  institu- 
tions. Any  such  leader  binds  them  together  by  spiritual 
ties,  and  thereby  in  the  strongest  bond.7  "If  the  human 
heart  ever  shows  the  spark  of  its  divinity,  it  is  in  the 
thoughts  wherewith  it  embraces  heaven  and  earth,  weighs 
stars,  breaks  up  the  sunbeam,  dares  to  penetrate  the  mys- 
teries of  the  deep,  separates  bodies,  divines  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  reckons  infinity."  Hence  Herder  considers 
nothing  more  laudable  for  a  ruler  than  the  noble  support 

iSuphan  IX,  383,   (1779). 

2Suphan  IX,  365,   (1779). 

sSuphan  IX,  357,  (1779);    XVII,  121,  (1793). 

4Suphan  IX,  368,  (1779). 

5Suphan  IX,  401,   (1779). 

6  Erinnerungen  III,  16. 

7Suphan  XVII,  26,   (1793). 


142  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

he  gives  to  the  advancement  of  these  studies.1  The  culture 
of  individual  lands  and  provinces  is  promoted,  and  in  Ger- 
many, especially,  it  is  encouraged,  by  the  example  set  by  a 
great  regent.2  The  ideal  ruler  will  discover  the  value  which 
lies  in  each  profession  and  science,  and  will  attempt  to  de- 
velop them  to  the  point  of  their  highest  efficiency  in  the 
state.  Thus  he  will  give  a  new  impulse  to  the  spirit  of 
scientific  and  cultural  endeavor,  and  at  the  same  time 
guarantee  for  all  time  the  recognition  of  talent  in  these  pur- 
suits.3 But  the  king  will  furnish  a  still  greater  incentive 
and  encouragement  to  these  intellectual  pursuits,  if  he  him- 
self, like  Caesar,  Mark  Anthony,  and  Frederick,  is  active 
in  them ;  his  participation  will  in  no  wise  hamper  his  talents 
for  rulership,  which  itself  is  the  highest  art.  However,  in 
pursuing  one  avenue  of  endeavor  he  must  not  neglect  the 
other;  in  courting  the  muses  he  must  not  forget  the  genius 
of  state.4  If  religion,  folk,  fatherland  are  but  vague  names, 
then  will  even  a  noble  harp  sound  hollow  and  indistinct; 
as  long  as  the  Germans  sing  with  unnaturally  subdued 
voices,  in  fear  and  trepidation,  for  reward  and  fame,  they 
will  never  hear  resound  a  lyre  capable  of  creating  a  higher 
culture  or  morality.5 

Herder  considered  the  French  Revolution  the  most  re- 
markable occurrence  of  his  century;  nothing,  to  his  mind, 
since  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  the  Migrations,  the 
Renaissance  and  Reformation,  was  of  greater  importance; 
he  doubted  whether  the  Crusades  and  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  were  events  as  mighty  and  farreaching.  Nevertheless, 
Herder's  attitude  toward  this  great  phenomenon  differed 

iSuphan  IX,  351,  (1779). 
2Suphan  IX,  356,  (1779). 
sSuphan  IX,  368,  (1779). 
*Suphan  IX,  369,  (1779). 
sSuphan  VIII,  434,   (1778). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  143 

from  that  of  Klopstock  and  other  enthusiasts.  He  himself 
says:  "I  never  sympathized  with  it  in  a  frisking,  childish 
way."  Consequently,  his  disappointment  in  its  results  was 
not  so  keen.  He  sought  comfort  in  the  hope,  that  a  higher 
power  would  winnow  the  good  from  all  the  evil.1 

If  we  consider  Herder's  attitude  toward  war  and  blood- 
shed we  can  better  understand  the  fact  that  his  interest  in 
the  Revolution  was  so  much  cooler  than  that  of  Klopstock. 
One  of  the  earliest  expressions  concerning  war  we  find  in 
"Haben  wir  noch  jetzt  das  Publikum  und  Vaterland  der 
Alten?"  (1765).  Here  he  is  inspired  by  Klopstock's  ode, 
"Das  neue  Jahrhundert"  (1760)  ;  not  alone  his  thought  and 
sentiment,  but  his  very  language,  also,  is  a  reflection  of  the 
production  of  his  great  contemporary.  He  considers  it 
praiseworthy  and  honorable  for  a  patriot  to  die  for  his 
fatherland,  whether  that  be  a  republic  or  monarchy,  and 
quotes  in  defense  of  his  opinion  a  verse  from  Klopstock's 
ode.  Later  in  his  life,  however,  one  seeks  vainly  for  such 
praise  of  war.  In  his  youth,  particularly,  Herder  was  bit- 
terly opposed  to  compulsory  military  service,2  and  always 
doubted  the  necessity  of  any  recourse  to  arms.  In  Bucke- 
burg  he  explains  to  Count  Wilhelm  his  conviction  that  offen- 
sive warfare  should  be  abolished,  and  that  the  sole,  legi- 
timate employment  which  a  country  could  make  of  force 
was  in  self-defense.  He  believes  that  the  only  means  of 
lessening  warfare  and  rendering  it  less  destructive  is  to 
change  its  entire  art  from  the  offensive  to  the  defensive.3 
He  often  speaks  of  "bloody  laurels  and  the  olive  branch  of 

1  Suphan  XVIII,  314,  (1792).  See  pQems— Suphan  XXIX,  659, 
(1790)  ;  XXIX,  578,  (1793).     Compare  Erinnerungen  III,  12. 

2  Erinnerungen  I,  33.  We  will  recall,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
Klopstock  was  very  much  interested  in  military  science,  and  studied 
it  more  than  once  in  his  life. 

3  Erinnerungen  I,  257.     See  Suphan  XVIII,  345,  348. 


144  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

the  muses",1  and  particularly  after  the  French  Revolution 
expresses  his  utter  contempt  for  the  conqueror.  The  spec- 
tacle of  one  fatherland  righting  against  another  in  a  bloody 
struggle  he  considers  the  worst  form  of  barbarism.2  He 
curses  wars  of  conquest,  and  believes  that  no  genuine  striv- 
ing for  the  welfare  of  humanity  can  make  any  progress  in 
a  state  where  lust  of  conquest  upraises  its  banner  and  wears 
the  first  livery  of  the  state.3  No  claim  to  national  glory, 
he  concludes,  can  be  more  specious  and  hollow  than  that 
which  is  based  upon  aggression  and  success  in  arms.4 

But  long  before  the  beginnings  of  the  Napoleonic  wars 
of  conquest,  Herder  had  expressed  his  contempt  for  blood- 
shed. He  considers  nothing  more  horrible  than  human 
sacrifice.5  If  ever  the  spirit  of  humanity  wins  a  place  in 
the  affairs  of  the  human  race,  he  says,  man  must  first  over- 
come and  discard  this  unnatural  ambition  after  power.6 
For  not  alone  do  conquests  change  the  affairs  of  the  world ; 
the  greatest  and  most  far-reaching  changes  are  brought 
about  by  new  views  of  things,  new  orders,  new  laws  and 
rights.7  Not  war  but  peace  is  the  natural  state  of  un- 
oppressed  humanity.8  Herder  considered  it  far  nobler  to 
devote  one's  whole  life  fearlessly  to  the  search  for  truth, 
freedom,  and  general  happiness  in  the  quieter  walks  of 
existence,  than  to  sacrifice  it  on  the  battlefield.9 

As  to  government,  Herder  considers  the  republican  form 

1  Suphan  IX,  332,  (1779);  XXIX,  584.  Compare  Klopstock's 
"Prayer  of  a  Good  King." 

2 Suphan  XVII,  319,  (1794);    XVIII,  312,  (1792). 

3 Suphan  XVII,  55,   (1793). 

4 Suphan  XVII,  317,   (1794). 

5  Suphan  XIII,  462. 

6 Suphan  XIV,  52,  (1787). 

7  Suphan  XIV,  361,    (1787). 

s  Suphan  XIII,  322,  (1787). 

» Suphan  XIII,  149,  (1784-85).  Compare  XVIII,  379,  (1794); 
XXVIII,  182,  (1797). 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  145 

the  best;  but  he  maintains  that  in  order  to  become  a  per- 
fect republic  a  country  must  not  be  satisfied  with  political 
freedom  alone.  In  1769  he  was  ready  to  pronounce  Hol- 
land the  wonder  of  all  democracies.1  At  the  same  time, 
he  clear-sightedly  points  out  that,  as  its  single  impulse  is 
the  commercial  spirit,  it  is  upon  the  point  of  falling  into  a 
gradual  decline.  If  so  materialistic  a  spirit  once  lays  hold 
upon  a  country,  everything  is  converted  into  terms  of  in- 
dustry. The  state  must  not  become  a  slave  to  the  struggle 
for  wealth;  if  it  would  maintain  itself,  Herder  believes,  it 
must  possess  higher  and  nobler  ideals,  and  promote  the  de- 
velopment of  the  spiritual  powers.  The  boldest  and  most 
nearly  divine  of  thoughts  have  been  conceived  in  republics  ; 
the  noblest  plans  and  works  have  been  carried  out  within 
republican  boundaries,2  because  freedom  is  the  underlying 
principle  of  such  a  government. 

And  freedom  Herder  considered  the  highest  right  of 
man.3  As  early  as  1766  he  writes  to  Hamann :  "My  only 
possessions  are  freedom  and  independence.,,4  By  these  he, 
like  Klopstock,  means  the  freedom  of  the  individual;  that 
inner  liberty  of  conscience  which  permits  a  man  to  think 
and  do  as  he  will  in  all  of  his  activity.5  "Freedom  of 
thought  is  the  fresh  air  of  heaven,  in  which  all  plants  of 
government,  especially  the  arts  and  sciences,  thrive  best. 
The  regent  of  a  state  must  be  almost  devoid  of  prejudices 
if  he  would  comprehend,  bear  with,  and  rectify,  the  opinions 
of  all  in  his  state,  and  direct  public  affairs  to  the  greatest 
good.  It  is  on  this  account  that  great  rulers  are  so  rare."6 
As  soon  as  the  spirit  of  freedom  disappeared  in  Greece,  its 

1  Suphan  IV,  409,  (1769). 

2Suphan  IX,  376,   (1779). 

3  Suphan  XXXII,  234. 

4Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  211.     Herder  to  Hamann,  December,  1766. 

•"'Suphan  I,  23,  (1765). 

6  Suphan  IX,  361,   (1779). 


146  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

language,  climate,  and  people  might  all  remain  intact,  but 
art  and  culture  were  gone.1  Since  whatever  is  to  grow 
must  grow  naturally,  the  finest  flowers  of  the  earth — art  and 
science — demand  freedom  of  soul.2  Nothing  can  be  an 
evidence  of  taste,  if  it  is  not  a  spontaneous  work  of  art.3 
Therefore,  says  Herder,  the  rewards  of  the  great,  of  rulers, 
can  never  be  the  first  impulse  of  genius.  He  believes  Ari- 
osto  and  Racine  would  have  been  greater  if  they  had  not 
been  restrained  by  the  court  taste.  He  praises  the  gener- 
osity of  the  king  of  Denmark  in  providing  for  Klopstock, 
but  this  encouragement,  he  says,  was  in  no  wise  the  source 
of  the  poet's  genius.4  Genuine  freedom:,  Herder  believes, 
is  a  matter  of  inner  experience;  just  as  the  poor  man  can 
become  happy,  so  the  slave  in  chains  can  be  free.5 

Once  more  in  the  poem,  "Germanien"  (1798),  Herder 
gives  profound  expression  to  his  great  love  for  Germany 
and  his  desire  for  her  welfare.  He  rebukes  his  countrymen 
for  slumbering  while  their  nation  is  threatened  on  all  sides. 
'Would  they  kneel  before  a  foreign  people?  Do  they  no 
longer  respect  their  forefathers,  or  value  their  own  heart, 
their  language,  everything?  He  who  does  not  protect  him- 
self is  not  worthy  of  freedom.  The  Germans  must  not  look 
to  the  court  and  church  for  protection ;  the  duty  of  preserv- 
ing the  fatherland  lies  upon  the  people  themselves.'  In  a 
prophetic  vision  he  sees  a  genius  come  from  heaven  and  join 
in  friendship  the  hands  of  two  German  powers — Austria 
and  Prussia.6 

Thus  we  see  that  both  Klopstock  and  Herder  were  noble 

i  Suphan  IXJ  328,  (1779). 
2 Suphan  IX,  329,   (1779). 
3Suphan  III,  438,  (1769). 
4  Suphan  II,  364. 
5 Suphan  XIII,  383,  (1785). 

6  Suphan   XXIX,   210,    (1798).    Compare   XXIX,   551,    (1780); 
XVIII,  345. 


PATRIOTIC  ENDEAVORS  147 

German  patriots  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  although  the 
talents  of  statesmanship  were  denied  them.  The  time  was 
not  yet  ripe  for  that  political  unification  of  their  country 
which  they  so  longed  to  see.  While  among  their  contem- 
poraries men  like  Gleim,  Kleist,  Ramler,  J.  G.  Jacobi,  and 
Uz  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  patriotism  for  their  own 
province,  Prussia,  and  Denis  for  his  country,  Austria,  Her- 
der and  Klopstock  were  broader  in  their  sympathies  and  in 
the  love  they  bore  their  people  and  fatherland.  All  their 
efforts  were  directed  toward  elevating  and  strengthening  the 
German  nation,  which,  in  their  minds,  comprised  all  the 
provinces  united  by  racial  experience  and  tradition.  The 
spirit  which  had  burned  brightly  and  warmly  in  the  hearts 
of  Klopstock  and  Herder,  and  which  had  kept  alive  the  feel- 
ing of  nationalism  in  the  works  and  deeds  of  these  men, 
during  a  time  when  external  conditions  threatened  to  dis- 
sever the  German  peoples  and  to  extinguish  the  spirit  of 
national  consciousness, — this  identical  patriotism  animated 
men  like  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,  Novalis,  Friedrich  Schle- 
gel,  Fichte,  Adam  Muller,  Korner,  Arndt,  the  Grimm 
Brothers,  Wienbarg,  and  finally  Bismarck.  Although  the 
ultimate  problem  of  political  organization  was  left  for  the 
great  minds  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  solve,  and  unifica- 
tion did  not  become  an  accomplished  fact  till  1871,  we  can 
safely  say  that  such  a  result  would  have  been  impossible 
without  the  noble  endeavor  of  such  great  men  as  Herder 
and  Klopstock. 


1 


PART  III 

A  TREATMENT  OF  KLOPSTOCK'S  AND  HERDERS 
POETIC  LANGUAGE 

The  great  movement  toward  language- re  form,  introduced 
by  Opitz  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  continued  by  Gott- 
sched  in  the  eighteenth,  was  purely  intellectual  in  character. 
Its  theories  were  based  largely  upon  the  works  of  Scaliger 
and  Ronsard,  and  in  its  later  phases  upon  Boileau ;  its  chief 
aim  was  to  develop  the  German  language  so  as  to  make  it 
conform  to  the  rules  set  down  by  these  critics.  Language 
was  treated  rather  from  the  standpoint  of  grammatical 
structure  than  of  artistic  perfection,  and  little  or  no  regard 
was  paid  to  those  peculiar  qualities  of  the  German  tongue 
which  constitute  its  original  strength  and  beauty. 

Shortly  before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  new 
school  of  criticism  arose  in  Switzerland  under  the  leadership 
of  Bodmer  and  Breitinger,  who,  together  with  Alexander 
Baumgarten,  surveyed  an  entirely  new  path  through  the  field 
of  pure  aesthetics.  They  attempted  to  analyze  the  nature 
of  the  beautiful,  and  gave  recognition  to  the  importance  of 
the  creative  fancy  in  the  production  of  artistic  master- 
pieces. With  all  this,  a  new  conception  of  language  was 
born.  The  theory  was  established  that  the  language  of 
emotion  and  imagination  differs  in  its  very  nature  from  that 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  149 

of  reason  and  logic,  and  is  entirely  independent  of  arbitrary 
grammatical  rule.  Attempts  were  made,  also,  to  ascertain 
what  constitutes  the  aesthetic  qualities  of  poetic  language. 
In  opposition  to  the  teachings  of  the  Gottsched  School,  the 
Swiss  critics  advocated  the  reintroduction  of  dialectic  and 
archaic  expressions;  that  is,  the  revival  of  those  descriptive 
words  and  phrases,  common  in  the  old  popular  tongue,  which 
had  been  eliminated  from  the  literary  language.  By  this 
theory  the  vernacular,  the  "Volkssprache",  which  since  the 
time  of  Luther  had  been  utterly  ignored,  was  once  more 
called  upon  to  instill  new  life  into  the  language  of  literature ; 
and  thus  a  doctrine  which  had  been  held  fundamental  by  all 
previous  works  on  poetics  was  annulled. 

Finally,  in  the  original  genius  of  Klopstock,  the  new 
school  of  criticism  found  the  perfect  realization  of  its 
tenets.  With  one  powerful  stroke  this  poet  proved  beyond 
question  the  inadequacy  of  mere  grammatical  correctness 
and  perfection  of  form  to  the  creation  of  a  truly  poetic  lan- 
guage. When,  however,  Klopstock  first  attempted  to  give 
expression  to  the  vast  world  of  ideas  which  his  genius  cre- 
ated, he  found  that  the  poetical  language  conventional  with 
his  time  was  by  no  means  adequate  to  a  full  utterance  of  his 
sublime  thoughts.  In  order,  therefore,  to  transmit  to  the 
hearts  of  his  contemporaries  some  spark  of  that  pristine 
fire  which  burned  in  his  own  soul,  the  poet  had  to  create 
an  entirely  new  terminology,  one  determined  largely  by  his 
own  high  conception  of  poetry.  We  remember  that,  ac- 
cording to  Klopstock's  belief,  art  as  a  revelation  of  the 
divine  must  breath  the  spirit  of  nature  and  religion ;  that  it 
is  in  true  art  that  man's  divine  nature  must  try  to  receive 
its  most  perfect  expression.  What  is,  then,  more  natural 
than  that  we  should  find  the  new  poetic  language  created  by 
him  pulsating  with  feeling  and  emotion,  this  primary  source 
of  all  genuine  poetry,  and  animated  by  the  spirit  of  religion. 


150  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Klopstock's  problem  was  to  invent  a  terminology  of  suf- 
%  ficient  elevation  to  satisfy  his  lofty  conception  of  art,  and 
at  the  same  time  rich  enough  to  give  adequate  expression 
to  his  deep  emotional  experiences.  The  primary  basis  of 
such  a  language  (the  poetic  possibilities  of  which  had 
already  been  recognized  by  Haller  and  Bodmer)  he  found 
in  the  enthusiastic  religious  terms  in  use  among  the  many 
devotional  sects  which  had  sprung  up  in  the  seventeenth 
and  early  eighteenth  centuries,— sects,  indeed,  whose  spirit 
was  still  very  much  alive  in  Klopstock's  time,  and  whose 
pietistic  influence  he  had  himself  felt.  These  mysticists  had 
sought  satisfaction  for  their  religious  cravings  in  their  own 
hearts,  and  their  language  is  consequently  full  of  expres- 
sions which  labor  to  describe  the  exuberance  of  their  emo- 
•  tions.  Klopstock,  however,  gave  a  new  interpretation  to 
this  language,  and  imparted  to  it  a  new  vigor,  by  conduct- 
ing it  out  of  narrow  church  circles  and  religious  bodies  into 
the  broader  service  of  art.  He  found  much  inspiration  for 
his  new  creation,  too,  in  the  world  about  him.  His  lyrical 
temperament  was  so  delicately  attuned  to  nature  that  words 
descriptive  of  her  beauties  and  activities  gave  adequate  ex- 
pression to  the  poet's  emotional  experiences,  and  to  the 
I  pictures  created  by  his  vivid  imagination.  Thus,  by  com- 
'  bining  a  language  descriptive  of  religious  experiences  with 
one  descriptive  of  natural  phenomena  (the  realm  of  the  lat- 
ter, however,  had  already  been  entered  upon  by  the  myst- 
icists), and  enriching  both  by  his  wonderful  creative  power, 
Klopstock  ultimately  discovered  a  vehicle  of  expression 
capable  of  conveying  his  exalted  ideas. 

Gottsched  and  his  followers,  who  were  rationalists,  pure 
and  simple,  attempted  to  defend  their  critical  doctrines 
against  those  advanced  by  the  Swiss  critics,  even  in  the  face 
of  Klopstock's  incontestable  demonstration  of  the  new  the- 
ories.    In   support   of   the   Gottschedians,    Schonaich   pub- 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  151 

lished,  in  1754,  his  work,  "Die  ganze  Aesthetik  in  einer 
Nuss,  oder  Neologisches  Worterbuch  ....  aus  den  Accen- 
ten  der  heil.  Manner  und  Barden  des  itzigen  uberreichlich 
begeisterten  Jahrhunderts  zusammengetragen,  und  den 
grossten  Wort-Schopfern  unter  denselben  aus  dunkler  Feme 
geheiliget  von  einigen  demiithigen  Verehrern  der  sehrafT- 
ischen  Dichtkunst".  He  satirically  dedicates  the  book  to 
the  "Geist-Schopfer,  dem  Seher,  dem  neuen  Evangelisten, 
dem  Traumer,  dem  gottlichen  St.  Klopstocken,  dem  Theo- 
logen",  and  to  Bodmer.  The  references  in  the  title  to  "holy 
men"  and  to  "seraphic  poetry",  and  the  titles  applied  to 
Klopstock  in  the  dedication,  indicate  that  the  Gottsched 
School,  of  which  Schonaich  was  but  the  mouth-piece,  had 
scented  the  mystic  origin  of  the  new  poetic  language.  It 
is  apparent  from  the  first  page,  therefore,  that  the  volume 
is  a  bitter  satire  against  the  new  school  of  poetry,  holding 
up  to  ridicule  the  language  of  Haller,  Bodmer,  and  Klop- 
stock. We  can  thus  distinguish,  by  means  of  Schonaich's 
condemnation,  that  part  of  Klopstock's  language  which  was 
an  obsolute  innovation,  and  by  comparing  it  with  the  lan- 
guage common  to  the  religious  enthusiasts,  we  can  deter- 
mine its  final  source. 

Hamann,  who  was  notoriously  inclined  toward  mysticism, 
and  his  pupil,  Herder,  studied  Klopstock's  new  language; 
and,  as  we  know,  the  latter  became  its  greatest  interpreter. 
Young  Herder,  familiar  with  a  healthy  mysticism  from 
early  youth,  and  possessed  with  a  temperament  delicately 
responsive  to  Klopstock's  lyrical  nature,  absorbed  fully  the 
great  world  of  ideas  created  by  the  poet's  imagination,  to- 
gether with  its  great  ideal  of  humanity.  We  can  safely 
say  that  Herder's  whole  inner  life  was  animated  from  early 
youth  by  the  same  spirit  which  had  previously  stirred  Klop- 
stock. Whenever  his  lyrical  nature  sought  expression  in 
verse  it  adopted  the  poetic  language  created  by  the  great 


152  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

artist.  Imbued  as  he  was,  moreover,  with  the  new  spirit 
aroused  by  Klopstock,  he  introduced  young  Goethe,  in 
Strassburg  (1770-1771),  to  the  works  of  the  older  poet, 
and  thus  fired  the  youthful  genius  of  Germany's  greatest 
lyrical  poet  with  the  ardor  of  her  first  great  modern  master 
of  verse.  When  we,  therefore,  consider  Klopstock's  im- 
portant position  in  the  history  of  German  literature,  and  his 
influence  on  Germany's  great  literary  masters,  a  study  of 
his  language  as  an  expression  of  his  ideas  will  not  seem 
futile.  Nor  will  a  comparison  of  this  language  with  that 
used  by  his  great  interpreter,  Herder,  be  in  vain. 

The  Pietists — in  which  term  let  us  include  the  various 
sects  of  religious  enthusiasts  and  separatists  of  the  seven- 
teenth and  early  eighteenth  centuries  showing  traces  of  the 
Platonic  influence — had  aimed  to  attain  a  heavenly  state  on 
earth  by  concentrating  all  their  physical  and  spiritual  powers 
on  the  great  beyond.  They  believed  that  by  shutting  out  as 
much  as  possible  the  distractions  of  the  world  of  the  senses 
they  could  overleap  the  barrier  of  material  things,  and  thus 
establish  an  avenue  of  direct  communication  with  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  (der  Weltgeist,  or  spiritus  universi1),  an  actual 
quasi — physical  contact  with  God.  They  hoped  to  "realize 
in  thought  and  feeling  the  immanence  of  the  temporal  in 
the  eternal  and  of  the  eternal  in  the  temporal".2  They 
spoke  of  "Verschlingen  und  Verschmeltzen  in  Gott",  "uber- 
wesentliche  Vereinigung",  "ungriindliche  Gleichwerdung 
Gottes",  "Vergottern,  Verwandlung  in  Gott",3  "in  Gott 
Versinken",4     "inwendiges    Gemiiths-Gebet",     "uberhimm- 

1  Colberg  II,  285. 

2  Sharpe,  page  10,  quotes  W.  R.  Inge. 

3  Colberg  I,  68. 

4  Colberg  II,  259. 


•    TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  153 

lische  Einkehr",  "inwendige  Einkehr."1  These  and  similar 
expressions,  all  revealing  an  attempt  to  describe  an  imme- 
diate knowledge  of  God  and  union  with  Him  by  a  rapture 
or  ecstacy,  in  which  the  soul  is  made  to  transcend  its  own 
present  nature,  may  be  traced  in  all  mystical  writings  from 
their  very  beginning.  We  shall,  however,  confine  ourselves 
here  to  the  poets  and  hymnists  immediately  preceding,  and 
contemporaneous  with,  Klopstock,  noting  especially  those 
terms  and  expressions  which  may  be  found  in  the  works  of 
this  German  poet. 

In  meines  Herzens  Grunde 
Dein  Nam  und  Kreuz  allein 
Funkelt  all  Zeit  und  Stunde — 

Valerius  Herberger,  1613. 
(Miitzell,  page  6.) 

Mit  meinem  Herz  mich  zu  dir  wend, 
Mein  Herz  ist  Gottes  Kirchlein — 
1st  er  in  mir  und  ich  in  ihm — 

Joh.  Timaus. 
(Miitzell,  page  8.) 

Sei  du  stets  bei  mir  und  in  mir, 

Mit  deinem  heiligen  Geist  mich  fuhr — 

David  von   Schweinitz. 
(Miitzell,   page  231.) 

Lass  uns  spur  en,  du  seist  der  Gott. 

Michael  Henrici,  1639- 
(Miitzell,  page  182.) 

Vereinge  mich,  mein  Licht,  mit  dir, 

Dass  ich  stets  in  dir  bleib, 

Komm  in  mein  Herz  und  wohn  in  mir. 

Gryphius,  1663-1664. 
(Miitzell,   page   311.) 

Geist  des  Lebens  Deine  Kraft  Erfiill  uns — 

Heinrich   Held. 
(Miitzell,  page  324.) 

Komm!    Ach  komm,  heiliger  Geist, 
Dich  mein  Herze  ehrt  und  preist; 

1  Colberg  It  68.  Schonaich  notes  "verschlingen"  and  "wandeln", 
ridiculing  the  latter  by  imposing  the  meaning  "spazierengehen" 
upon  it. 


154 


HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 


Komm  zu  mir,  das  Herze  mein 
Soil  dein  Haus  und  Himmel  sein. 


Georg  Schramm,   1655    (?). 
(Miitzell,  page  381.) 


Wie  wird  der  Geist  dadurch  entzuckt; 
Hinauf  gen  Himmel  hingeriickt: 
Mit  Gott  stets  inniger  vereint! 
Die  ihr  von  ihm  ein  Herz  empfiengt, 
Das  sich  zu  Gott  mit  Innbrunst  nahn, 
Und  seine  Grosse  fiihlen  kann. 


(Schlegel,  page  2.) 


O  Gott  und  Herr  den  Glauben  mehr 

In  alien  Deiner  Herzen. 

Send  ihnen  den  Geist  mit  Flammengneist — 

(Arndt,  page  141.) 

Dass  du  unsichtbarer  Meister, 

Uns  so  fiihlbar  nahe  bist  

Zunde  an  die  Liebesflamme. 


Zinzendorf. 
(Krummacher,  page   113.) 


Lass  uns  so  vereinigt  werden, 
Wie  du  mit  dem  Vater  bist, 
Bis  schon  hier  auf  dieser  Erden 
Kein  getrenntes  Glied  mehr  ist; 
Und  allein  von  deinem  Brennen 
Nehme  unser  Licht  den  Schein. 


Zinzendorf. 
(Krummacher,  page  114.) 


Ach  mein  Herr  Jesu,  dein  Naheseyn 

Bringt  grossen  Frieden  ins  Herz  hinein,   

wir  seh'n  dein  freundliches  Angesicht    ..... 

wohl  leiblich  nicht ; 

Aber  unsre  Seele  kann  dich  dock  erfahren; 
Du  kannst  dich  fiihlbar  g'nug  offenbaren, 
Auch  ungesehen. 

Grafin  Zinzendorf. 
(Krummacher,  page  135.) 

Ich  habe  Gott  gesehen; 
Er  hat  sich  eingefunden, 
Und  sich  mit  mir  verbunden. 

(Zinzendorf    [1714],  page   12.) 

Wohl  einer  jeden  Seel,  die  sich  in  Ihn  versenkt 
Und  ihrer  Sinnen  Sturm  in  Seiner  Sanftmuth  stillet. 

(Zinzendorf    [1722],  page  48.) 


TREATMENT  OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  155 

"Vollendung   einer    fiinfjahrig-fortgewahrten   Betrachtung    Gottes" 

Allgegenwart!   ich  muss  gestehn, 
Du  unaussprechlich  tiefe  Hohe 
Erfullest,  ohne  Dich  zu  sehn, 
Dock  alles3  wo  ich  geh'  und  stehe- 
Die  Spur  von  Deinem  Allmachts-Pfad, 
Die  ewiglich  nicht  auszugrunden, 
1st  dennoch  iiberall  zu  finden, 

So  weit  man  Raum  zu  denken  hat   

(Zinzendorf    [1722],  page  59.) 

Und  komm,  den  Lebens-Gott  ganz  kindlich  anzubeten, 
Versenke  dich  ganz  tief  in  Seiner  Liebe  Grund, — 

(Zinzendorf  [1722],  page  70.) 

Nur  unsre  Hers  en  so  lien  sich 
An  diesem  Abende  verbinden, 
Ihr  Gut  und  Wollust  ewiglich, 
In  Dir  zu  suchen  und  zu  finden. 

(Zinzendorf   [1725],  page  147.) 

Zions  Kinder !    konnt  ihr  beten, 
Und  im  Geist  zusammen  tret  en; 
Ach !    vergesst  einander  nicht, 
Jeder  braucht  des  andern  Licht. 
Schliesst  euch  fein  vest  zusammen, 
Giesst  in  eure  Lampen  Oel, 
Pflegt  einander  Leib  und  Seel3 
Hegt  zusammen  euer  Feuer. 

(Zinzendorf   [1730],  page  256.) 

Ihr  [der  Seele]  gauzes  Inner es,  das  wallt 
Dem  Brautigam  zu,  das  treibt  zusammen. 

(Zinzendorf    [1731],  page  284.) 

So  weit  Dein  Geist  mein  Herz  erfulle — 

(von  Moser,  page  96.) 

Leite  den   Urquell  der  innersten  Triebe 
M ague Use h  hinan. 

(von  Moser,  page  128.) 

All  these  phrases  aim  to  describe  the  soul  as  raised  above 
itself  and  filled  with  God's  presence;  they  would  lead  the 
soul  from  the  external  and  earthly  to  the  invisible  and 
heavenly  as  an  experienced  reality  and  not  as  a  mere  concept. 
These  views  and  expressions  find  an  echo  in  Klopstock's 
ideas  and  language,  as  we  shall  attempt  to  show. 


156  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Ihn  empfind,  unci  in  ihm  lebe. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  page  20.  )i 

Augenblicke  deiner  Erbarmungen, 

O  Vater,  sinds,  wenn  du  das  himmelvolle  Gefiihl 

Deiner  Allgegenwart 

In  meine  Seele  strahlst. 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  page  21.  )2 

Deiner  Gottheit  Gegenwart 
Entflamm'  und  befliigle 
Jede  meiner  Empfindungen! 
Leite  sie,  Unerschafner,  zu  dir ! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  page  23.) 

Erheb,  o  meine  Seele,  dich  iiber  die  Sterblichkeit, 
Blick  auf,  und  schau;    und  du  wirst  strahlenvoll 
Des  Vaters  Klarheit 
In  Jesus  Christus  Antlitz  schaun ! 

(Das  Anschauen  Gottes,  page  29.) 

O  du  der  Seligkeiten  hochste, 
Ueberstrome  meine  ganze  Seele 
Mit  deinem  heiligen  Feuer! 

(Der  Erbarmer,  page  40.) 

Vielleicht  schaft  Gott  Erkenntnis  in  mir, 
Die  meine  Kraft,  und  was  sie  entflammt, 
Wie  viel  es  auch  ist,  und  wie  gross 
Die  ganze  Schopfung  mir  nicht  geben  kann ! 

(Die  Gliickseligkeit  Aller,  page  49.) 

Wie  erhebt  sich  das  Herz,  wenn  es  dich, 
Unendlicher,  denkt! 

(Dem  Unendlichen,  page  63.) 

Dann  hebt  mein  Geist  sich,  durstet  nach  Ewigkeit — 

(Dem  Erloser,  page  6.) 

Gib  meiner  SeeV  ihr  wahres  Leben, 
Dass  sie  zu  dir  sich  zu  dir  erhebef 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  page  16). 

Was  wird  das  Anschaun  seyn,  wenn  der  Gedank'  an  dich, 
Allgegenwar  tiger!    schon  Kraft e  jener  Welt  hat! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  page  16.) 

Weniger  Herzen  erfiillt,  mit  Ehrfurcht  und  Schauer 
Gottes  Allgegenwart! 

!The  quotation  from  the  "Geistliche  Lieder"  are  found  in  the 
edition  printed  at  Reutlingen,  1795,-— 'Geistliche  Lieder.  Erster 
Teil.,, 

2  The  edition  of  the  Odes  by  Bode,  1771,  is  referred  to,  when- 
ever the  page  is  indicated. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  157 

Lass  mich  im  Heiligthume 
Dich,  Allgegenwdr  tiger, 
Stets  suchen,  und  finden ! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  page  17.) 

Empfindung,  bist  du  wahr,  als  diirf  ich 
Frei  mit  dem  Schopfer  der  Seele  redenf 

(An   Gott.) 

Dann  muss'  ein  Schauer  von  dem  Unendlichen, 
Ein  sanftes  Beben  derer,  die  Gott  nun  sehn, 
Ein  susser  Schauer  jenes  Lebens 
Ueber  dich  kommen  und  dir  die  Seele 
Ganz  iiberstromen. 

(Der  Abschied.) 

Herder,  too,  following  in  the  steps  of  Klopstock,  again 
and  again  adopts  these  mystical  terms  to  express  the  in- 
timate relation  of  the  soul  to  its  Creator, — a  thought  which 
was,  likewise,  a  favorite  one  with  him. 

Sterblicher,  blick  in  dich  selbst,  da  hast  du  die  holiere  Regel, 
Die  nicht  die  Welten  allein,  die  auch  sich  selber  regiert. 

(Suphan,  XXIX,  161.) 

However,  neither  Klopstock  nor  Herder  was  a  metaphy- 
sical speculator;  nor  was  either  satisfied  to  ignore  the 
beauty  of  the  visible  world  and  the  inspiration  each  derived 
from  it.  Both  aspired  to  commune  with  universal  truth 
through  nature  in  the  broadest  sense,  and  not  through  intro- 
spection alone.  Their  poetic  language  is  related  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  religious  enthusiasts,  but  the  world  of  thought 
lying  back  of  it  is  infinitely  more  allembracing  than  was  that 
conceived  by  the  Pietists. 

We  have  said  that  his  intimacy  with  nature  furnished 
Klopstock  with  an  important  source  for  those  descriptive 
terms  which  were  to  give  utterance  to  the  great  emotions 
he  experienced.  Schonaich  here,  too,  aids  us  in  determin- 
ing which  of  these  expressions  were  new  and  which  offered 
no  appeal  to  the  minds  of  the  adherents  of  the  old  view  of 
things.  He  attacks  the  terms :  Abend  (and  its  compounds), 
Abglanz,  atherisch,  bestrahlen,  blitzen,  dammern,  Damme- 


158  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

rung,  Donner,  Donnern,  dunkel,  elektrisch,  Friihling,  gol- 
den, hell,  himmlisch,  Leben,  Licht,  Luft,  mitternachtlich, 
Morgen,  Mutter,  Natur,  nachtlich,  Sommernacht,  Natur, 
ode,  Schopfung,  Silberton,  Sonne,  Stiirmen,  Strahl,  Trop- 
fen,  wolkenlos.  All  these,  or  related  terms,  as  we  shall 
see,  are  made  use  of  by  Klopstock  and  Herder  in  their 
descriptions  of  nature,  and  also  in  reference  to  their  own 
emotions. 

Although  the  Pietists  wished  to  describe  primarily  the 
effect  on  the  emotions  of  an  introspective  contemplation  of 
God,  yet  we  do  discover,  as  well,  an  attempt  to  realize  the 
presence  of  the  living  God  in  external  nature.  We  find,  as 
a  consequence,  many,  or  all,  of  Klopstock's  nature-terms 
fore-shadowed  in  the  language  of  the  mystical  poets. 

Er  selber  ist  die  Sonne. 
Machtig  strahlt  sein  Glanz  daher. 
Das  finstre  Herz  erleuchtet  er. 


Donner  stimme    [Gottes]. 


(Schlegel,  page  90.) 
(Schlegel,  pp.  80,  103.) 


Deine  Donnerstimrn* 

Joh.  Hermann,   1630.     (Miitzell,  page  32.) 

Lass  deines  Geistes  Morgenrothe 
In  unsern  dunkeln  Herzen  sein. 

Opitz,  1635-1636  (?).     (Miitzell,  page  204.) 
Morgenrothe. 

Josue  Stegmann.     (Miitzell,  page  204.) 

Du  redest  aus  Gewittern 
Und  alle  Herzen  zittern. 

(Schlegel,  page  138- ) 
Verruke  nicht  dein  Seelen-Licht 
Bis  zu  dem  Kreis  der  Ewigkeiten; 
Du  mochtest  Finsternis  erbeuten. 

(Zinzendorf,  page  61, — 1722.) 

Das  von  der  Gottheit  selbst  in  Ihm  entflammte  Licht 
Begont  in  seinen  Geist  viel  heller  einzuscheinen. 

(Zinzendorf,  page  80, — 1723.) 

Willst  Du  mit  Deinem  Licht  durchbrechen, 
Schenkst  Du  uns  Deine  Heiterkeit, 

(Zinzendorf,  page  93, — 1723.) 
Donner  stimm. 

(Zinzendorf,  page  15, — 1717.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  159 

Die  so  gefiirchtete  und  lange  Nacht 
Wird  einmal  unversehens  ubergehen; 
Der  Tag  wird  desto  unverriikter    gldnzen, 
Und  meinen  Geist  in  Ewigkeit  bekranzen. 

(Zinzendorf,  page  17, — 1720.) 

Sehen  wir  dann  nicht 

In  dem  Morgen-Licht 

Einen  Strahl  von  grossren  Kr'dften, 

Und  durchdringendern  Geschaften? 

Sehen  wir  Dich  nicht 

Zions  Sonnen-Licht? 

(Zinzendorf,  page  28, — 1721.) 

Komm  Ewigkeit,  Inbegrif  innigster  Wonne, 
Bestrahle  und  heitere  unser  Gerniith : — 

(Zinzendorf,  page  40—1721.) 

Und  wie  bey  finsterer  Nacht  ein  Blitz  den  Himmel  erleuchtet. 
So  fiihlet  sich  unser  Geist  voll  Licht — 

(von  Moser,  page  81.) 

Und  durch  Glut,  das  Gold  bewahrt,  

Bring  dein  Licht  in  meine  Seele — 

(von  Moser,  page  117.) 

Es  wandelt  mein  armer  Geist  oft  im  Dunkeln, 

Wann  ihm  auch  vom  Glanz 

Des  seeligen  Gnaden  Lichts  Strahlen  funkeln, 

Er  hat  Dich  nicht  ganz !    

Mach,  dass  Dein  flammendes  Licht 
Durch  alle  Finsterniss  bricht. 

(von  Moser,  page  127.) 

Ja,  wenn  mir  dein  erwarmend  Blitzen 
Kann  Blut-  und  Lebens-Quellen  hitzen, — 

(von  Moser,  page  15.) 

Wann  gleich  dein  Donner  feurig  blitzt — 

(von  Moser,  pages  77,  17.) 
Und  wann  auch  finstre  Kraft  den  Sinn  verdunkelt. 

von  Moser,  page  69.) 
Er   [mein  Geist]   wird  mich  leiten 

Durch  Finsterniss 

Du  Glanz  vom  ew'gen  Morgensteme — 

(von  Moser,  page  147.) 

Let  us  now  trace  these  expressions,  descriptive  of  natural 
phenomena,  in  Klopstock  and  Herder, — Kraft,  Natur,  Le- 
ben,  Hauch,  erhaben,  Strahl,  Dunkel,  Dammerung,  Licht, 
heiter,  Nacht,  Tag,  Morgen,  Morgenroth,  Sonne,  Gold, 
rosenfarbig,  Donner,  Blitz,  finster.     At  a  contemplation  of 


160  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

the  beauties  of  nature,  Klopstock  is  moved  to  express  his 
feelings : 

Hoher  Genuss  der  Schopfung,  wenn  wir  von  des  Denkens  Feuer 
entflammt,  sie  empfinden,  sie  erblicken,  horen,  staunen  vor  ihr. — 

(Der   Unterschied.) 

Schone  Natur,  Begeisterung  sey  mir  dein  Anschaun. 

(Lossreissung.) 

As  always,  the  poet  sees  a  manifestation  of  the  Divine 

Being  in  nature  at  the  contemplation  of  the  star-lit  heavens, 

and  experiences  a  feeling  of  sublimity: 

O  Anblick  der  Glanznacht,  Stemenheere, 
Wie  erhebt  ihr!     Wie  entzuckst  du  Anschauung 
Der   herrlichen   Welt!     Gott  Schopfer! 
Wie  erhaben  bist  du  Gott  Schopfer! 

(Der  Tod,  p.  65.) 

In  nature  Klopstock  finds  the  Creator,  and  this  universal 

spirit  fills  his  soul  and  finds  expression  in  his  poetry. 

Ich  hebe  mein  Aug'  auf,  und  seh, 

Und  siehe  der  Herr  ist  uberall! 

Mit  heiligem  Schauer 

Brech'  ich  die  Blum'  ab 

Gott  machte  sie, 

Gott  ist}  wo  die  Blum3  ist. 

Mit  heiligem  Schauer,  filhl'  ich  der  Lilfte  Wehn, 

Hor  ich  ihr  Rauschen !     Es  hiess  sie  wehn  und  rauschen 

Der  Ewige!  Der  Ewige 

Ist,  wo  sie  sauseln,  und  wo  der  Donnersturm  die  Ceder  stiirzt- 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  19.) 

Also  trink'  ich  die  reinere  Luft, 

Und  ein  sanftes  frohes  Gefiihl  des  Lebens  berauscht  mich. 

Wie  erhbht,  Weltherrscher, 

Deine  Bewunderung  den  Geist  des  Staubs !     (Der  Selige). 

The  term  "Weltherrscher"  recalls  the  "Weltgeist"  of  the 

Pietists  and  the  later  use  of  it  by  Herder.     In  "Das  Grosse 

Hallelujah"  Klopstock  refers  to  God  as  "der  Hocherhabene, 

der  Erste  und  der  Vater  der  Schopfung".     The  poet  uses 

the  word  "Natur"  as  synonymous  with  God. 

So  wahr  die  Natur  kein  edleres  Herz  nicht 

Ohne  den  heiligsten  Trieb  derer,  die  ewig  sind,  schuf, 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte.) 


TREATMENT  OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  161 

Dann  trennt  kein  Schicksal  mehr  die  Seelen, 

Die  du  einander,  Natur,  bestimmtest.     (An  Fanny.)1 

Schon  ist,  Mutter  Natur,  deiner  Erfindung  Pracht 
Auf  die  Fluren  verstreut,  schoner  ein  froh  Gesicht, 
Das  den  grosser*  Gedanken 
Deiner  Schopfung  noch  einmal  denkt. 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  116.) 
(Friedensburg,  p.  131.) 

Die  schauernde  Natur. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  78.) 

Lindernde  Thranen,  euch  gab  die  Natur  dem  menschlichen  Elend 
Weis'  als  Gesellinnen  zu. 

(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 

Wie  umwehten  uns  der  Duft  und  die  Kiihlung, 
Wie  verschont  warst  von  dem  Monde, 
Du  o  schone  Natur! 

(Die  Sommernacht,  p.  211.) 

Sing,  Telyn,  dem  Dichter  die  schonere  Grazie 
Der  seelenvollen  Natur! 

(Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain,  p.  257.) 

Euch,  Sonnen,  euch,  Erden,  euch,  Monde  der  Erden, 
Erfullet,  ringsum  mich,  seine  gottliche  Gegenwart! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  20.) 

Es  singt  die  Natur  dennoch  dem,  welcher  sie  schuf, 
Ihr  Geton  schallet  vom  Himmel  herab,  laut  preisend 
In  umwolkender  Nacht  rufet  des  Strahls  Gefahrt 
Von  den  Wipfeln,  und  der  Berg'  Haupt  es  herab! 

(Die  Gestirne,  p.  59.) 

Die  Salbung,  die  vom  Himmel  fliesst, 
In  Gnadendurstende  sich  giesst, 
Durch  deine  Auferstehung  Kraft 

1  Compare :  Natur,  dich  hort'  ich  im  Unermesslichen  herwan- 
deln....  Gedankenvoller,  tief  in  Entzikkungen  verloren,  schwebt 
bei  dir  die  Natur.  Aus  alien  goldnen  Zeiten  begleiten  dich,  Natur, 
die  Dichter  (Wingolf  VIII)  :  Ach,  warum,  o  Natur,  warum,  un- 
zartliche  Mutter  gabest  du  zum  Gefuhl  mir  ein  zu  biegsames  Herz 
(Die  kunftige  Geliebte)  ;    voller  Einfalt,  wie  du,  Natur   (Petrarca 

und  Laura)  ;    singe    was  die  Natur  dich  lehrt   (Die  Braut)  ; 

Natur  gab  mir  Gefuhl  zur  Tugend  (Die  kunftige  Geliebte)  ;  Dank- 
lied  der  Natur — (Die  Gestirne)  ;  Die  Stimme  der  Natur  stammeln 
(Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain)  ;  Stimme  der  rauhen  Natur  (Der  Hii- 
gel und  der  Hain)  ;  die  Natur  schrieb  in  das  Herz  sein  Gesetz  ihm 
(Aesthetiker)  ;  Jenes  feurigen  Naturgesangs !  (Der  Hiigel  und  der 
Hain). 


162  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

In  uns  ein  neues  Leben  schaft, 

Des  Geistes  Salbung  send  uns,  Gott! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  51.) 

Mein  Konig,  wenn  du  fiihlst,  dass  sich  ein  sanftes  Leben, 

Und  Ruh,  durch  deine  Seele  giesst; 

So  war  ichs  audi,  die  dir  in  deine  Seele, 

Der  Himmel  Frieden  goss! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  142.) 

Suss  ist,  frohlicher  Lenz,  deiner  Begeistrung  Hauch. 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  118.) 

Seht  ihr  den  neuen  Zeugen  des  Nahen,  den  fliegenden  Strahlf 

(Die  Fruhlingsfeyer,  p.  38.) 

Wie  die  erste  der  Liebenden 

Voller  Unschuld  im  Hauch  duftender  Liifte  kam, — 

(An  Cidle,  p.   134.) 

The  final  purpose  of  the  universe,  Klopstock  believes,  is  the 
happiness  of  all  beings : 

Zu  der  Schopfung  letztem  Zweck   der  Seligkeit  Aller — 

(Beruhigung.) 

The  darkness  of  night  furnishes  a  symbol  for  some  of 

the  poet's  ideas,  and  the  words,  dunkel,  das  Dunkle,  are 

frequently  found,  even  before  he  became  acquainted  with 

the  poet,  Young,  to  express  a  vague  state  of  uncertainty, 

hesitancy,  or  depression. 

Thrdnend  wandt'  ich  von  ihm  mein  melancholisches 
Mudes  Auge  dem  Dunkeln  zu — 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 

Wo  bist  du? 

Dich  sucht,  Beste,  mein  einsames, 

Mein  fiihlend  Herz,  in  dunkler  Zukunft. 

Durch  Labyrinthe  der  Nacht  hin  suchts  dich! 

(Wingolf  IV,  p.  88.) 

Nacht  der  Welten,  wie  wir  in  dunkeln  Worten  schaun 

Den,  der  ewig  ist! 

So  schaun  wir  in  dir,  geheimnissvolle  Nacht, 

Den,  der  ewig  ist! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  20.) 

Thranen  abwischen,   im  Dunkeln  weinen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  14.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  163 

so  traf  der  Gedanke 

Meinen  erschutterten  Geist, 

Dass  mein  Auge  sich  dunk  el  verlor,  und  das  belebende  Knie  mir 

Kraftlos  zittert,  und  sank. 

Ach,  in  schweigender  Nacht,  ging  mir  die  Totenerscheinung, 

Unsre  Freunde,  vorbey ! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  100.) 
Immer  herrlicher  offenbarest  du  dich ! 
Immer  dunkler  wird  die  Nacht  urn  dich, 
Und  voller  von  Seegen. 

(Die  Friihlingsfeyer,  p.  37.) 
Geheimnisvolle  Nacht. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  97.) 

Viel  Mitternacht  e  werden  noch  einst  entfliehn 

(Wingolf  V,  p.  92.) 
Stirbt  denn  auch  einer  von  uns,  mich  reisst  mein  banger  Gedanke 
Immer  ndchtlicher  fort! 

(An  Ebert,  p  101.) 

Thranen  geliebt  zu  seyn 

Vom  gliickseligen  Volk,  weckten  den  Jiingling  oft 
In  der  Stunde  der  Mitternacht. 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  122.) 

Eingehiillet  in  Nacht,   

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  125.) 
O  Schmerz,  da  sie  erschienen  war, 
Warum  trafest  du  mich  mit  dem  gewaltigsten 
Deiner  zitternden  Kummer 
Schwermutsvoller   wie    Ndchte    sind? 

Jahre  traf st  du  mich  schon !     Endlich   

Sinkt  die  traurige  Nacht — 

(An  Cidli,  pp  134,  135.) 
Dich  soil  der  Enkel  noch,  du  Todesstunde,  feyern ! 
Sie  sey  sein  Fest  um  Mitternacht! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  138.) 
Hort,  durch  die  Nacht  herauf,  der  dunkeln  Hugel  Rauschen, 
Den  Todeston! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  139.) 
....  Denn  die  geheiligten, 
Eresten,  fest  lichen  Ndchte 
Wacht  der  Freigeist  mit  dir, — 

(An  Young,  p.   148.) 

um  Mitternacht  auff ahren — 

(Fragen,  p.  147.) 
Auch  wenn  stille  Nacht  ihn  umschattend  decket, 
Schlummr'  ich  ihn  sicher. 

(An  Cidli,  p.  162.) 
Finstrer  Gedanke,  lass  ab !    lass  ab  in  die  Seele  zu  donnern! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  102.) 


164  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Twilight  furnishes  another  motive  for  the  poet : 

Er  sangs-    Jetzt  sah  ich  fern  in  der  Ddmmerung 

Des  Hains  am  Wingolf  Schlegeln  aus  dichterischen 

Geweihten  Eichenschatten  schweben, 

Und  in  Begeisterung  vertieft  und  emstvoll, 

Auf  Lieder  sinnen. 

(Wingolf  VII,  p-  94.) 

So  umschatten  mich  Gedanken  an  das  Grab 
Der  Geliebten,  und  ich  seh  in  dem  Walde 
Nur  es  ddmmern, — 

(Die  Sommernacht,  p.  211.) 

Mit  Entziickung  wall'  ich  im  Hain  der  Palmen, 
Dichter,  mit  Lust,  hier,  wo  Eich'  und  ihr  Graun 
Uns  ddmmert, — 

(Unsre  Fiirsten,  p.  223.) 

Das  Wolkchen  Laune 

Ddmmert  schon  auf  ihrer   Stirn. 

(Die  Kunst  Tialfs,  p.  245.) 

Eucht  Stunden,  griiss'  ich,  welche  der  Abendstem 
Still  in  die  Ddmmerung  mir  zur  Empfindung  bringt. 

(Die  Stunden  der  Weihe.) 

Tief  in  die  Ddmmrung  hin  sah  es  und  suchte  sich, 

Seiner  Thranen  Genossin,  auf, 

Dich  des  ndchtlichen  Hains  Sangerin,  Nachtigall ! 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 

Wenn  die  Strahlen  von  der  Ddmmrung  nun  entfliehn,  und  der 

Abendstem 
Die  sanfteren,  entwolkten,  die  erfrischenden  Schimmer  nun 
Nieder  zu  dem  Haine  der  Barden  senkt, 

(Thuiskon.) 

Sieh  den  ruhenden  See,  wie  sein  Gestade  sich, 
Dicht  vom   Walde  bedeckt,  sanfter  erhoben  hat, 
Und  den  schimmernden  Abend. 
In  der  griinlichen  Ddmmrung  birgt. 

(Friedensburg,  p.  131.) 

Es  sank  die  Sonne,  Ddmmerung  kam,  der  Mond 

Ging  auf,  begeisternd  funkelte  Hesperus  

(Wissbegierde.) 

Ich  seh  in  Wingolfs  fernen  Hallen 
Tief  in  den  schweigenden  Ddmmerungen 
Dort  seh  ich  langsam  heilige  Schatten  gehn ! 

(Wingolf  V,  p.  90.)  l 

1  Compare:  Der  Abend  dammert — (Edone)  ;  der  Dammerung 
Stern — (Die  kiinftige  Geliebte)  ;  kaum  noch  sichtbare  Damme- 
rung—  (Zwei  Johanneswurmchen). 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  165 

Just  as  the  night,  darkness,  shadows,  and  twilight  force 
their  beauty  upon  Klopstock  and  affect  his  moods,  so,  too, 
do  daylight  and  the  dawn  of  morning  spread  their  charms 
before  him  and  move  his  soul  to  poetry. 

Wenn  auch  das  Gotteslicht 

Heller  mir  meine  Flecken  nicht  zeigte — 

(Das  Anschaun  Gottes,  p.  25.) 

Ach  du  redest  umsonst,  vor  dem  gewaltigen  Kelchglas, 
Heitre  Gedanken  mir  zu ! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 
Schon  wie  die  junge  Morgenrote — 

(Wingolf  II,  p.  82.) 

O  Bild,  das  jetzt  mit  den  Fittigen  der  Morgenrote  schwebt! 
(Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain,  p.  254.) 

O  du,  das  uns  mit  jeder  frohlichen  Hoffnung  umlachelt, 
Festliches  erstes  Jahr ! 
Mit  dem  Fliigel  der  Sommer  morgenrothe, 
Schwebst  du  dem   Tage  voran ! 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  176.) 

Dennoch  glaubt'  ich — und,  ach,  Wonne  war  mir, 

Morgenrothlicher  Glanz  der  goldne  Traum,   

(Mein  Irrthum.) 

Ein  hoher  Genius  der  Menschlichkeit 

Begeistert  dich. 

Du  bist  die  Morgenrothe 

Eines  nahenden  grossen  Tags. 

(Der  jetzige  Krieg.)l 
Wenn  ihm    [dem  May]    Thau,   hell  wie  Licht,  aus  der  Locke 
tt   j  ,  trauft, 

Und  zu  dem  Hiigel  herauf  rothlich  er  kommt. 

(Die  fruhen  Graber,  p.  204.) 
Die  Fliigel  der  Morgenrothe  wehen   . . 

(Mein  Vaterland,  p.  269.) 

Der  die  Schickungen  lenkt,  heisst  des  frommsten  Wunsch, 
Mancher  Seligkeit  goldnes  Bild 
Oft  verwehen — 

(An  Bodmer,  p.  114.) 
Komm,  goldne  Zeit— 

(Wingolf  VIII,  p.  95.) 
Lass  die  goldne  Leyer  schweigen. 

(Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain,  p.  252.) 

1  Compare:    Die  Morgenrothe— (Der  Geschmack). 


166  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

The  majesty  of  thunder  and  lightning  often  inspire  Klop- 
stock ;  he  is  fond  of  presenting  the  thought  that  thunder  is 
the  voice  of  God. 

Wenige,  deren  Ohr 

Ihn    [den  Schopfer],  in  dem  machtigen  Rauschen  des  Sturm- 
winds  hort 
Im  Donner,  der  rollt  im  lispelnden  Bache, 
Unerschaffner,  dich  vernimmt ! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  17.) 

Denn  Jehovah  redet ! 

Zwar  durch  den  rollenden  Donner  auch 

Durch  den  fliegenden  Sturm,  und  sanftes  Sduseln. 

(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  41.) 

Gott  der  Donner. 

Wingolf  I,  p.  79.) 

Mich,  dem  des  Hains  Sduseln  ertont  und  der  Quelle 
Stimmchen,  der  Sturm  und  der  Donner  und  das  Weltmeer. 

(Der  Geschmack.) 

Seht  ihr  den  Zeugen  des  Nahen  den  zuckenden  Strahl? 
Hort  ihr  Jehovahs  Donner? 

Den  erschiitternden  Donner  des  Herrn  

Und  die  Gewitterwindef    Sie  tragen  den  Donner  

Hort  ihr  hoch  in  der  Wolke  den  Donner  des  Herrn? 

(Die  Fruhlingsfeyer,  pp.  37,  38.) 

Als  die  Posaun'  auf  Sinai  schwieg,  " 
Und  die  Stimme  der  Donner! 
Als  Gott  sprach 
Von  Gott  sprach! 

(Das  Anschaun  Gottes,  p.  27.) 

des  Donnerers  Auge — 

(Fur  den  Konig,  p.  9.) 

Welcher  Donner  gibt  mir  Stimme? 

(Die  Welten,  p.  56.) 

So  erbebt  ich,  als  mich  von  alien  Gedanken  der  bangste 
Donnernd  das  erstemal  traf! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 
Mit  erhob'ner  Woge  besturmt !   Als  donnr'  er, 
Rauschet  der   Strom, — 

(Arganippe  and  Phiala,  p.   177.) 

Es  tonet  sein  Lob  Feld,  und  Wald,  Thai,  und  Gebirg, 
Das  Gestad'  hallet,  es  donnert  das  Meer  dumpfbrausend 
Des  Unendlichen  Lob, — 

(Die  Gestirne,  p.  59.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  167 

Des  Zeug'  ist  Hochsted,  dort,  wo  die  dunkle  Schlacht 
Noch  donnert, — 

(Fragen,  p.  147.) 

Herder  quite  as  joyfully  as  Klopstock  sings  loud  praises 
to  the  night  which  fills  him  with  thoughts  of  a  higher  world 
and  brings  rest  to  his  heart : 

Kommst  du  wieder,   heilge,  stille  Mutter 
Der  Gestirn'  und  himmlischer  Gedanken, 

neiget  sich  ermattet 

Meine  Bilder-uberfiillte  Seele, 

Harrend,  dass  Dein  sanfter  Schwamm  sie  losche, 

Sie  mit  Bildern  andrer  Welten  tranke, 

Und  mein  lechzend  Herz  mit  Ruhe  labe 

Weite  Nacht  umf  asset  meine  Seele! 
Meere  der  Unendlichkeit  umfangen 

Meinen  Geist,  die  Himmel  aller  Himmel !   

Hohe  Nacht,  ich  knie  vor  Deinem  Altar! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  213.)1 

Herder  uses  "Nacht",  "dunkel",  "Dammerung"  and  "Don- 
ner",  as  does  Klopstock: 


Vom  schonen  Land  bin  ich  verbannt; 
In  dunkler  Feme  dammert's  kaum 

Schlaft  nie  fur  mich 
Ein  Herz,  das  meinen  Gram  versteht, 
Durchs  dunkle  Leben  mit  mir  geht? 

Wer  bin  ich, 

dass  ich  hinein  in  jenes  Dunkel  seh, 


(Suphan  XXIX,  605.) 

(Suphan  XXIX,  605.) 

'(Suphan  XXIX,  556.) 

sein  Nichts  voll  Dunkel  schrecket  

(Suphan  XXIX,  255.) 

1  Mitternachtsgedanken  (Suphan  XXIX,  8,  494)  ;  Mitternacht 
(243,  249,  449,  490,  489,  511)  ;  Nacht  (13,  231,  247)  ;  kalte  Mitter- 
nacht (245)  ;  Nachtvoll  (249)  ;  oft  soil  es  uns  bei  Mitternacht 
hier  schaudern  (312)  ;  der  Mitternacht  Gestalten  (323)  ;  Mutter 
Nacht  (324)  ;  Mitternachts-Dunkel  (341)  ;  Sohn  schaudernder 
Mitternacht  (341)  ;  hohe  Graun  der  Nacht  (352)  ;  Schopfungs- 
Mitter-nachts-Gedanken  (352)  ;  Dammernacht  (369)  ;  Gesang  der 
Nacht  (433)  ;  Die  Stimme  zur  Mitternacht  (464)  ;  Graun  der  Mit- 
ternacht  (509);    tiefe  Mitternacht   (546). 


168  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Sah  Seelentief  und  Hohn,  ihr  tiefes  Werden 

und  Seyn  von  Licht  zu  Licht, 
vom  dumpfen  Anschaun  hier  auf  dunkler  Erden 

bis  An-  zu  Angesicht 

(Suphan  XXIX,  378, )i 

Bleib'  bei  uns,  Herr,  verlass'  uns  nicht, 

f uhr'  aus  der  Ddmmrung  uns  zum  Licht 

(Suphan  XXIX,  632.) 

Es  donnert — um  mich  rauschts,  wie  Heere  : — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  267.) 

Sohn  schaudernder  Mitternacht. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  341.) 

....   um  mich  Nacht!  (Suphan  XXIX,  231.) 

So  lange  Nacht  und  Tag  sich  mischt, 
Und  was  des  Himmels  Sterne  segnen, 
Wird  in  der  Ddmmrung  erfrischt 
Mit  Liebe  Liebe  sich  begegnen. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  125.) 2 
Des  Herren  FVVink  sprach  Ja !    einsylbicht  lallen 

des  Zornes  Donner  nach  das  Ja !    

und  ich — bin  Mensch,  auf  dem  der  Donner  hing   

(Suphan  XXIX,  236.) 
Und  wie  Er  starb,  da  halber  Saklen  Schmerzen 
vereint  ihn  fassten,  innres  Nervesol 
wie  Blut  auskochten,  und  herauf  zum  Herzen 

als  Sieger  donnerten,   

(Suphan  XXIX,  10.) 
Und  Gott?  Blitzt  er?     donnert  er? 

(Suphan  XXIX,  235.) 3 

Herder  uses  the  figure  of  dawn  frequently. 

1st  Mensch  und  Morgenroth  das  schonste  dieser  Erden, 
was  wirst  Du — beider  Bild — erst  in  der  andern  werden ! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  535.) 

Die  Sonn'  ist  da!     Die  Morgenrothe 

Verrbhtet  ....  (Suphan  XXIX,  43.) 

1  Compare :  dunkel  (Suphan  XXIX,  177);  heiliger  Dunkel 
(10)  ;  wie  ihn  Dunkel  fasste  (10)  ;  dort  auf  wiistem,  dunklem 
Meer  (437);    Dunkelheit  (594). 

2  Compare :  Ihr  Antlitz  schien  die  Dammerung  aufzuhellen  (Su- 
phan XXIX,  171)  ;  holde  Dammerung  (205)  ;  Nebel  und  Dam- 
merung (556)  ;  rothes  dammerndes  Auge  (518)  ;  in  dunkler  Feme 
dammerts  kaum  (605)  ;  noch  dammerts  tief  (543)  ;  Dammerung 
(507). 

3  Compare:  Donnergott  (Suphan  XXIX,  22,  404);  Donner- 
vogel    (37)  ;    Donnerschlage   (248)  ;    Donnerwagen    (252). 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  169 


Die  Morgenrothe  lacht       (Suphan   XXIX,  52.) 

(Suphan  XXIX,  164.) 


Da  ging  ihnen  auf  der  Freude, 
Auf  der  Hoffnung  Morgenrothe 


schone  Morgenrosen 

mit  der  Thr'dne  in  dem  Busen 

und  ihr  Auge  Morgenroth! (Suphan  XXIX,  316.) 

Zephyr  kehrt  zuruck 

Zum  jungen  Morgenroth  (Suphan  XXIX,  357.)1 

The  "allgemeiner  Weltgeist",  or  spiritus  universi  of  the- 

osophy,  Herder,  as  well  as  Klopstock,  conceives  of  as  a  great, 

infinite,  invisible  spirit  which  embraces  all  the  universe  and 

brings  man's  complete  inner  self    (feeling  combined  with 

reason)  into  perfect  harmony.     Its  human  manifestation  is 

love  and  friendship,  and  its  ultimate  goal  is  the  peace  and 

happiness  of  the  human  race. 

....    o  schone  Mutter  Natur 

dein  edelster  Funke! 

Freundschaft!    Edelster  Funke    ....    des  edelsten  Funk  en 

In  aller  deiner  Flammennatur  

(Suphan  XXIX,  367.) 
Die  zarten  Bande,  die  das  Weltall  halten, 
Die  ewig  junge  rege  Sympathie, 
Die  Himmelsglut,  in  der  die  Wesen  brennen 
Wie  willst  du  anders  sie    als  Liebe  nennen? 

(Suphan  XXIX,  172.) 
In  Ein  Gefiihl  verschlungen 
Sind  wir  ein  ewig  all — 
In  Einen  Ton  verschlungen 
Der  Gottheit  WiederhalL  (Suphan  XXIX,  93.)2 

1  Suphan  XXIX,  178 — (Aurora:)  Und  gebe  Blumen,  Junglingen 
und  Schonen — Erfrischend  sie,  der  Morgenrothe  Kleid, — Mor- 
genroth (XXIX,  13). 

2  Compare:  Weltgericht  (Suphan  XXIX,  39);  (Lebensbild  III, 
1,  p.  Ill)  ;  (XXIX,  205,  305)  ;  Rettergeist,  Schutzgeist  (492)  ; 
Schopfer,  Urkiinstler  (559)  ;  Schopfer  Geist  (641)  ;  Menschen- 
gott  (455-456)  ;  Gott  Schopfer,  Natur  Vater,  Mittler  (234)  ;  Er- 
dengeist  (232)  ;  Erdengenius  (572)  ;  der  grosse  rege  Geist  (206)  ; 
Urgeist,  Sonnengenius  (207)  ;  Allmacht'ge  Giite  (566)  ;  Schopfer- 
duft  (390)  ;  Triebe  der  Gottheit— Geist  der  Schopfung  (325)  ; 
Mittelpunkt  (221,  235)  ;  es  schlagt  ein  grosses  Herz  in  der  Natur 
(209);  O  Natur!  du  glanzest  unerschopflich  reich  (287);  Mutter 
Natur  (364-365);  Lebensgeist,  Wiirkgeist,  Freudengeist  (438). 
Compare:  Suphan  XXIX,  115,  235  344,  375,  442,  444,  455f,  566, 
610,  230,  325,  221,  287,  364f.,  438;  IV,'  168,  205. 


170  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Since  it  is  the  divine  fire  which,  according  to  the  Pietists, 
fills  and  intoxicates  the  human  mind,  we  may  easily  com- 
prehend how  Feuer,  Flamme,  Funke,  Zunden,  Glut,  Brand, 
brennen,  Anflammen,  flammen,  entflammen,  entziinden,  ent- 
glimmen,  gluhen,  funkeln,  briinstig,  schmelzen,  and  similar 
expressions  should  come  to  be  employed  as  metaphors  to 
denote  the  agitation  of  the  God-illumined  soul.  We  meet 
expressions  like  "Enthusiasterey",1  "vom  verschlingenden 
eine  Unempfindlichkeit  und  Vergessenheit  aller  Dinge  wur- 
kenden  Enthusiasmo",  "Zerschmeltzung,  Einfluss,  Entziin- 
dung  wesentlicher  Inflammation.2 

Der  kam  einsmals  mit  Feuers  Gneist. 

(Arndt,  p.  138.) 
Seitdem  das  Feuer  von  Jesu  Christ 
Auf  Erden  angezundet  ist, 
Wird  alles  mit  Gerechtigkeit, 
Als  wie  mit  Funken  uberstreut. 

Zinzendorf    (Krummacher,  p.  63.) 
Aus  des  ewgen  Feuers  Glut 
Mich  zu  retten,  fliesst  dein  Blut. 

(Schlegel,  p.  77.) 
Bring  Dein  Feuer  zur  lichten  Loh ! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  199,-1728.) 
Feuer-Flammen. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  248,-1729;  p.  275,   1731.) 
Andacht-F^w^r. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  270,-1730.) 

Hegt  zusammen  euer  Feuer   

Hohlet  neue  Gluht  zum  Feuer. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  256,-1730.) 

Je  mehr  der  Geist  zur  Ruhe  zieht, 
Und  sich  in  sanftem  Feuer  stahlet, 
Das  wenig  Funken  von  sich  spruht — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  272,-1730.) 

i  Colberg  I,  69,  and  II,  268. 

2  Colberg  I,  68.  Schonaich  ridicules  similar  expressions :  An- 
dachtsbrand,  angebrannt,  befeuern,  Brand,  brennen,  elektrisch,  ent- 
flammen, entziinden,  Feuer,  feurig,  Flammenstrom,  funkeln,  gluhen. 

"Die  Seele,  ausser  sich  und  uber  sich  erhoben,  stromt  in  Gott 
ein  und  wird  in  Gott  verwandelt,  gleichwie  ein  ins  Feuer  gelegtes 
Eisen  sich  verwandelt.  Sie  ist  dann  Gottfarbig,  mit  dem  Wesen 
Gottes  durchgossen,  gleichwie  Gold  und  Erz  in  eine  Masse  ver- 
schmolzen  sind". — Matthai,  p.  67. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  171 

Dein  feuriges  Gebliite, 
Das  schmerzlich  gluhte, 
Und  Liebesfunken  spriihte, 
Hats  angefacht. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  336, — 1733.) 

Ein  Feuer  glimmt  in  meinem  Blute, 

Mir  wird  ein  Strahl  der  Gottheit  kund  

O  H  titer  von  dem  heilgen  Feuer! 
Entzunde  meinen  Geist  und  Leyer — 

(von  Moser,  p.  11.) 

Dein  Altar  sollen  Herzen  werden, 
Von  Deiner  reinen  Glut  entflammt, 
Dein  Wind  soil  stets  ihr  Feuer  mehren 
Und  alle  fremde  Glut  verzehren, — 
Dein  Feuer  wallt  und  brennt  auf  Erden. 

(von  Moser,  p.  52.) 

F euerflammend  Auge 

Je  williger  das  Herz  zum  Creuz  sich  findet, 

Je  mehr  wird  auch  der  Liebe  Glut  entziindet 

(von  Moser,  p.  68.) 
Send  ihnen  den  Geist  mit  Flammengneist. 

(Arndt,  p.  141.) 
Zunde  an  die  Liebesflamme. 

Zinzendorf.     (Krummacher,  p.   113.) 
Geuss  tief,  tief  in  mein  Herz  hinein, 

Die  Flamme  deiner  Liebe   

Von  Gott  strahlt  mir  ein  Freudenlicht. 

(Schlegel,  p.  113.) 
Flamm  und  Brand  des  Zornes — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  68,-1722.) 
O  dass  der  angeflammten  Triebe 
Nur  eine  einge  Flamme  war! 
Du  hast  uns  alle  angezundet. 
Der  Prediger,  und  wer  ihn  hort, 
Wer  als  ein  reiner  Funk  entglommen : 
Hat  einen  Hauch  von  Dir  bekommen, 
Der  wieder  in  Dein  Feuer  fahrt. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  93,-1723.) 
Mich  reisst  ein  Brand  der  Liebe  hin. 

(von  Moser,  p.  12.) 
Dein  Brand,  der  alle  Harte  schmelzet, 
Erweckt  mir  eine  hohre  Glut. 

(von  Moser,  p.  15.) 
Die  ihr  von  ihm  ein  Herz  empfiengt, 
Das  sich  zu  Gott  mit  Innbrunst  nahn — 

(Schlegel,  p.  21.) 
Deiner  Liebe  Brunst — 

Opitz,   1634-1635.     (Miitzell,  p.  204.) 


172  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Glut — 

(Schlegel,  p.  104.) 

Herr  Jesu !     Deines  Her  sens  Gluht — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  161,-1727.) 

Gluht  der  ewigen  Liebe — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  250,-1730.) 

Das  Priester  Volk jauchzt  von  Deiner  Glut  durchdrungen 

Mit  himmlisch  angeflammten  Zungen. 

(von  Moser,  p.  45.) 

Als  es   [sein  Herz]   in  tiefem  Jammer  gliihte — 

(von  Moser,  p.  48.) 

Je  mehr  wird  auch  der  Liebe  Glut  entziindet. 

(von  Moser,  p.  68.) 

Du  brantest  selbst  in  ihm,  du  reines  Licht. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  108—1724.) 
Wohin  noch  keine  Sinnen  gehn, 
Da  kan  das  Hers  noch  brennen. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  137,-1725.) 

Wenn  sie  [die  Freude]  auf  Herz-Altaren  brennet. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  147,-1726.) 

Wie  brennen,  wie  flammen  die  freudigen  Triebe, 
Die  kein  Verstand  begreifen  kan. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  148—1726.) 

Vor  Liebe  brennen. 

(Zinzendorf*  p.  292, — 1731.) 

Und  im  brennenden  Verlangen, 
Deine  Salbung  zu  empfangen. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  316, — 1732.) 

Mach,  dass  Dein  flammendes  Licht 
Durch  alle  Finsterniss  bricht. 

(von  Moser,  p.  127.) 

[Seyd]   voll  obenher  entjlammter  Brunst. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  56, — 1722.) 

Das  von  der  Gottheit  selbst  in  Ihm  entflammte  Licht 
.     Begont  in  seinen  Geist  viel  heller  einzuscheinen. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  80,-1723.) 

These  terms,  all  derived  from  the  fundamental  image  of 
a  divine  fire,  are  used  by  both  Klopstock  and  Herder  when 
attempting  to  describe  the  emotions  stirred  by  the  sublime, 
or  filled  with  the  Divine  Presence. 

Ohn'  ihn  war  deine  Gegenwart 
Feuereifer,  und  Rache  mir! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  24.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  173 


O  du  der  Seligkeiten  hochste 
Ueberstrome  meine  ganze  Seele 
Mit  deinem  heiligen  Feuer! 


(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  39.) 


dass  Christen  noch  einst 

Wir  entflammen  mit  dem  Feuer 
Das  zu  Gott  steigt! 

(Unsre  Fiirsten,  p.  223.) 
Schon  erzittert  das  Volk!    schon  gliihet 
Feuer  des  Himmels  in  ihm! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  230.) 
Nur  mein  Auge  soil's  mit  schmachtendem  Feuer  durchirren. 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  279.) 
Flammen. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  30.) 
Ich  will  die  heisse  Wissbegier  derm 
Loschen !     Sie  bleibt ;    sie  ist  heilig  Feuer, 

(Wissbegierde.) 

dass  mein  geweihter  Arm 

Vom  Altar  Gottes  Flammen  nehme! 
Flammen  ins  Herz  der   Erlosten   strome ! 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  7.) 
Eine  Flamme  von  dem  Altar  an  dem  Thron 
Ist  in  unsre  Seele  gestromt ! 

(Das  grosse  Hallelujah,  p.  69.) 
Auf  !    in  den  Flammendampf  hinein ! 

(Schlachtgesang,  p.  71.) 
In  sie  hatt'  er  der  Dichtkunst 
Flamme  gestromt,  aus  der  vollen  Urne! 

(Wingolf  VII,  p.  95.) 
Ein  Flammenwort. 

(Ihr  Tod.)     (Mein  Vaterland,  p.  269.) 

Wenn  du  durch  deinen  lebendigen  Schwung  zu  dem 
Liede  dich  aufflammst. 

(Die  Lerche  und  die  Nachtigall.) 
Gluhst  von  der  Lerche  Glut. 

(Sie.) 
Mit  feurigem  Durst  trinken — 

(Gegenwart   der   Abwesenden.) 
(An   Cidli,  p.    168.) 
Wie  gluheten  wir — 

(Die  Vortrefflichkeit.) 
Mein  gliihendes  Angesicht. 

(Die  Friihlingsfeyer,  p.  35.) 
Flammenblick — 

(Die  beyden  Musen,  p.  152.)      (Hermann,  p.  265.) 


174  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Du  starbst!    dein  Blut 
Entflammt  die  Glut. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  28.) 
Kann  was  feyrlicher  denn  uns  wie  ein  Konig  seyn, 
Der  zwar  feurig  und  jung,  dennoch  ein  Weiser  ist. 

(Friedensburg,  p.  132.) 

Feurig er  ausrufen — 

(Fragen,  p.  146.) 

Blick,  der  feurig  zur  Erde  sich  senkt — 

(Die  beyden  Musen,  p.  152.) 
Sein  feuriges  Herz — 

(An  Gleim,  p.  159.) 

Feuriger  blickt  sie — 

(Siona,  p.  189.) 
Nicht  mit  der  Rechte  schopft  der  Dichter, 
Feuriger,  leckt  er  die  Silberquellen ! 

(Kaiser  Heinrich,  p.  181.) 

Heil  mir  mein  Herz  gltiht,  feurig  und  ungestiim 
Bebt  mir  die  Freude  durch  mein  Gebein  dahin! 

(Der  Abschied.) 

der  du  edel  und  feuervoll 

Stumper  der  Tugend  und  Schriften  hassest! 

(Wingolf  III,  p.  86.) 

Mit  frommer  Sehnsucht  entbrennen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  21.) 
Damit  ihr  Hers  entbrenn! — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  35.) 

Seinen  brennenden  Durst,  Freunden  ein  Freund  zu  sein! 

(An  Gleim,  p.  159.) 
Feurig  beseelet  er  die  Saiten — 

(Braga,  p.  208.) 
Schweig!     Ich  bilde  mir  ein  Bild 
Jenes  feurigen  Naturgesangs ! 

(Der  Hugel  und  der  Hain,  p.  254.) 

Welch  ein  neues  Gefiihl  gliihte  mir! 

(Bardale,  p.  105.) 
Sein  Antlitz  gluht  vor  Ehrbegier. 

(Heinrich  der  Vogler,  p.  111.) 

Und  doch  die  Wange  niemals  mit  gliihender 
Schamvoller  Rothe  farben? 

(Fragen,  p.  146.) 
Was  that  dir,  Thor,  dein  Vaterland? 
Dein  spott'  ich,  gliiht  dein  Herz  dir  nicht 
Bey  seines  Namens  Schall ! 

(Wir  und  Sie,  pp.  220,  222.) 
Gluhend  ist  seine  Seele. 

(Mein  Vaterland,  p.  269.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  175 

Er  sass,  gluhend  vor  Frohlichkeit — 

(Aus  der  Vorzeit.) 

Entgliiht  kein  Zorn  dir,  Dichter? 

(Verschiedene  Zwecke.) 
[Frey]   Von  Tauscherey 
Des  heissentflammten  Leibes  sey — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  52.) 

allein  die  letzte 

Rache  gliihet,  wie  keine 
Sonst,  von  zerstorender  Glut. 

(Die  Rache.) 

Doch  diese  bebte  mannlich,  und  gliihende 
Siegeswerthe  Rothen  uberstromten 
Flammend  die  Wang! 

(Die  beyden  Musen,  p.  151.) 

meine  Kraft,  und  was  sie  entflammt — 

(Die  Gluckseligkeit  Aller,  p.  49.) 

Herr  Herr  Gott!    den   dankend   entflammt,  kein  Jubel  genug 

besingt. 
(Dem  Unendlichen,  p.  63.) 

Umsonst  entflammt  uns  kiihner  Muth — 

( Schlachtgesang,  p.  71.) 

hat  sich  des  Jiinglings  Blick 

Entflammt! — 

(Fragen,  p.  147.) 

Doch  wenn  dich,  Jiingling,  andere  Sorg'  entflammt — 

(Der  Rheinwein,  p.  166.) 

Ich  seh,  ich  sen',  ein  Geist  der  Patrioten 
Entflammet  der  Krieger   Schaar! 

(Aganippe  und  Phiala,  p.  178.) 

Lispel,  entflohn  jenem  Gesang  der  entflammten 
Sonne  des  Heils — 

(Die  Zukunft,  p.  186.) 
Von  des  Lohns  Verachtung  entflammt — 

(Unsre  Fiirsten,  p.  226.) 

Ach  von  des  Sohns  Liede  beseelt,  von  der  Heerschaar 
Sions  entflammet,  erheben  sie  ihr  Loblied ! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  230.) 

Und  fragst,  ob  wie  du  er  entflamme  den  Gesang? 

(Unsre  Sprache,  p.  244.) 

entflammt  von  mehr  denn  nur  Ehrbegier,   

(Mein  Vaterland,  p.  271.) 

Denket  er  [Geist  des  Staubs]   dich,  Herrlicher,  welches  Gefiihl 
Flammt  in  ihm !    welcher  Gedank'  hebt  ihn,  denket  er  dich ! 
(Die  hochste  Gluckseligkeit,  p.  66.) 


176  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 


Und  lass  sie   [die  Seele]    

Aufflammen  in  Entzuckungenl 

aber  Stolz 

Funkelf  im  Blick  einiger  auch. 


(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  39.) 
(Sponda,  p.  193.) 


nur  selig,  wenn  von  dir  entzundet, 

Er  [der  Geist]   seinen  Schopfer  empfindet! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  21.) 
von  seinem  Wuth  entsiindet — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  66-) 

Herder  is  quite  as  fond  as  Klopstock  of  emphasizing  the 

presence  of  "divine  fire"  in  the  human  heart.     He  appears 

as  peace-maker  in  one  verse  and  appeals  to  man's  divine 

nature,  the  source  of  all  his  noblest  powers : 

Freunde,  lasst  den  Zwist! 
Das  heilige  Feuer  auf  des  Ewigen 
Altar  in  unsrer  Brust,  Beredsamkeit, 
Weisheit  und  Dichtkunst,  die  dies  Feuer  entflammt, 
Dass  es  der  Menschheit  reiner,  warmer  brenne, 
Und  jede  Kunst,  die  bessre  Zeiten  fordert 
Sie  alle  sind  von  heiliger  Natur 
Und  ewger  Wahrheit,  tausendfaltiger 
Verwandlung  fahig,  und  doch  stets  Dieselbe. 

(Suphan,  XXIX,  217.) 
Beim  heilgen  Feuer,  das  Jova  in  mich  goss, 

Beim  Flammenmeer  aus  dem  es  floss 

du  hor'  es,  der  auf  Feuertronen 

Entschluss  und  That  mit  Gottes  Wage  wiegt — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  266.) 

o  f asst 

mich,  Feuer!    Ich  filhls!    es  tagt! 

Ja !    leben  will  ich  und  modern  nicht !   

Staub  bin  ich;    denn  Staub  wollt  ich  seyn ! — Doch  nah 
am  dunklen  Feu'rmeer  oben  gebar  sich  still 
ein  Funke  sum  Gott  mir,  der  mir  gliiht 
in  jeder  Nerv' !     Ich  fuhls! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  245.) 
Menschenherz,  du  Feuermeery 
wallend  Gottesglut  daher — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  438.) 
Brennt  das,  was  in  mir  brennt,  als  Flamme  nur 
des  Aschenhaufens  in  der  Erde  Dunst? 
O  nein,  o  nein !     Der  Dunst  der  Erde  flammt 
nicht  auf,  der  Seele  Feuer;    er  vertilgts; 
und  Geister  fesselt  ihre  Schwere  nicht! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  614.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  177 

Des  Mannes  Feuer  brennt  ihm  auf  sein  Hers, 
in  seinen  Adem  quillt  der  Flammenstrom, 
der  friiher  ihn  gen  Himmel  tragen  soil. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  562.) 
— o  Seele !    Er 
in  Dich  sich  hauchte  gab  Dir  seinen  Schleier 

voll  heller  Dunkelheit 
Die,  Heiligstes  der  Schopfung,  wo  sein  Feuer 

zum  Himmel  wallt  und  streut 
der  Allmachtsliebe  Funken! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  377.)* 

Herder  uses  the  word  "gluhen"  in  much  the  same  way  as 

does  Klopstock.     Instances  of  its  use  are: 

wo  du  mir  ein  starker  Lied  gesungen, 
das  noch  jetzt  in  meinen  Adem  gluht. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  279.) 

Du  gitihst!    wir  gluhen! — Ich  fuhl — Voll  bin  ich 

des  Geistes  des  Taumelkelchs!  

Ich  gliih! 

Sie  spotten !     Die  Zunge  gliiht  vor  Pfeilen.2,  3 

(Suphan  XXIX,  268.) 

i  Compare:  Suphan  XXIX,  115,  250,  252,  555;  XXVIII,  331; 
I,  256;    IV   368;   VIII,  334. 

2  Compare:  Feuer  (Suphan  XXIX,  262,  39,  246,  248);  Feuer 
der  Mitternachte  (509)  ;  Feuermeer  (XXIX,  250,  438)  ;  Feuer- 
ross  (252)  ;  Feuergebet  (269)  ;  Feuerblick  (252)  ;  Feuerstrome 
(347);  Feurflammen  (401,  634);  Feurig  (252);  Flamme  (492, 
160,  159)  ;  Flammengluhn  (599)  ;  Flammenstrom  (207)  ;  Flam- 
menmeer  (313,  460)  ;  Flammenzuge  (322)  ;  Flammennatur  (367)  ; 
Flammchen  Freud'  und  Hoffnung  (487)  ;  flammen  (30,  265,  460)  ; 
wild  emporflammen  (370)  ;  aufflammen  (228,  322)  ;  flammende 
Rache  (276)  ;  Lebensquell,  flammend  Licht  (641)  ;  anfeuern  (177)  ; 
mit  Leben  entziinden  (599)  ;  Funke  (14,  265)  ;  Fiinkchen  (103)  ; 
droben  gluhen  schon  der  Liebe-Funken  (172)  ;  Lebensfunk  (204)  ; 
Alle  Funken  des  allweiten  Aethers  (219)  ;  schwarze  Funken  spriihn 
(243)  ;  Sonnenfunk  (228)  ;  Aethersfunken  (247,  344)  ;  Freund- 
schaft,  edelster  Funke  (367)  ;  Funken  vom  ewigen  Strahl  (124)  ; 
Seelenbrand  (24)  ;  Sommerliebesbrand  (367)  ;  Brand  im  Herzen 
(590)  ;  deines  Herzens  rege  Glut  (79)  ;  Thranen  gluhn  (10,  248)  ; 
(das  Menschenherz)  aufbrausend  gliiht  es  (205)  ;  Himmelsgluht 
(Heiliger  Geist)  (46)  ;  gluhn  (250,  261  262,  265,  269,  460,  597)  ; 
Gluht  (253,  258)  ;  Jugendglut  (323)  ;  Schmerz  glut  in  der  Seele 
(604)  ;  so  singt  so  lang  ihr  feurig  seid  (412)  ;  jeder  Sonnenstrahl 
von  Wonne  gliiht   (236). 

3  This  term  "gluhen"  is  adopted  by  Goethe,  who  probably  ac- 
quired it  from  Herder  while  with  him  in  Strassburg.  See  Faust's 
first  monologue  in  Part  II,  Scene  1. 


178  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

The  Pietists  sought  by  means  of  introspection  to  obtain  a 
true  peace  of  mind  amid  the  illusions,  instability,  and  unrest 
of  the  external  world;  hence  we  find  repeated  use  of  the 
terms:    Friede,  Ruhe,  Rast,  Stille,  ruhen. 

Dein  Friedens-Huttle'm  prangte  hier 
Mit  Frieden  in  dem  Streit-Revier. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  62, — 1722.) 

Wie  siisse  hingegen,  wie  schone  klingt,  Friede 
Und  Ruhe  von  Arbeit  und  ewige  Rast! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  40,-1721.) 

Vergonnt  es  mir,  erlauchte  Chore ! 
Dass  ich  die  siisse  Lieder  hore, 
Die  ihr  in  der  geschaft'gen  Ruh, 
Wann  ihr  den  Trieb  der  Gottheit  fiihlet, 
Dem  Wesen  aller  Wesen  spielet. 

(von  Moser,  p.  12.) 
Der  Seelen  und  Gewissens  Ruh. 

(Mutzell,  p.  251—1640.) 
Hers  und  Hers  vereint  zusammen, 
Sucht  in  Gottes  Herzen  Ruh*. 

Zinzendorf.     ( Krummacher,  p.  112.) 

Durch  ihn  find  ich  in  der  Arbeit  Rast, 
Und  Ruhe  mitten  im  Getummel. 

(Schlegel,  p.  109.) 

Je  mehr  der  Geist  zur  Ruhe  zieht, 
Und  sich  in  sanftem  Feuer  stahlet. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  272,-1739.) 

Was  fiihlet  nicht  mein  Geist  vor  Frieden! 

(von  Moser,  p.  33.) 

Und  sinkt  erstaunet  in  die  Ruh. 

(von  Moser,  pp.  45,  110.) 

Das  Hers  empfindet,  bey  des  Leibs  Ermiiden, 
Gott lichen  Frieden. 


....  dich  briinstig  zu  lieben, 

Bringt  erst  die  Seele  zur  volligen  Ruh. 

Erquicke  mich  mit  Deinem  Frieden, 
Versenke  Dich  mit  Deinem  Frieden 
In  meinen  Geist. 


(von  Moser,  p.  67.) 
(von  Moser,  p.  91.) 

(von  Moser,  p.  134.) 


"Ueber  die  Ruhe  des  Gemuths." 
. . .   Und  zwar  die  Freud  in  siisser  SHU — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  123,-1725.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  179 

Gottes  Fiihrung  fordert  Stille. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  191—1728.) 

Du  Geist  des  Herrn !    mit  deiner  Fiille 

Versenke  Dich  in  meinen  Geist 

Und  lehre  mich  in  heil'ger  Stille 

Wie  man  Dich  kennt  und  wiirdig  preisst. 

(von  Moser,  p.  39.) 

In  heiliger  und  sichrer  Stille 
Speisst  meine  Seele  aus  der  Fiille 
Wo  Gnade  stets  aus  Gnade  fliesst! 

(von  Moser,  p.  57.) 

Wer  bringt  mich  zur  seeligen  Sabbat hs-S ' title f 

(von  Moser,  p.  126.) 

O  welche  sanfte  Stille! 
Wann  Seele ,  Geist  und  Wille 
Gedanke,  Sinn  und  Muth 
In  seiner  Liebe  ruht. 

(von  Moser,  p.  157.) 

O  Hochzeit,  die  man  Sabbaths-Ruhe  nennet, 
O  Tag  des  Herrn ! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  224,-1729.) 

Weil  doch  die  Ruhe  Zeit  ein  miides  Hers  erfreut. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  246,-1730.) 

These  expressions,  denoting  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the 
human  mind  and  heart,  may  be  traced  in  Klopstock. 

Mit  jenes  Lebens  Ruh 
Erquickst,  beschattest  du 
Mich  schon  in  diesem  Leben ! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  3.) 

Wenn  ich  im  f reudigen  Gebet,   

Zu  der  Sieger  Chor,  zu  dir  empor, 
Steig  ich  dann,  ruh  in  dir. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  4.) 

Des  Lebens  wahrste  Ruh — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  16.) 

Wenn  wir  des  Vaters  Willen  thun; 
Konnen  wir  in  sicherm  Frieden  ruhn. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  17.) 
Wenn  sie  singen, 
Entzuckt  sie  Jesu  Christi  Ruh! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  103.) 

Mein  Konig,  wenn  du  fiihlst,  dass  sich  ein  sanftes  Leben, 
Und  Ruh,  durch  deine  Seele  giesit — 

(Die   Koniginn  Luise,   p.    142.) 


180  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Auf  den  Fliigeln  der  Ruh,  in  Morgenluften,  

Kommst  du  den  Himmel  herab. 

(An  Cidli,  p.  156.) 

Der  Tugend  und  der  Liebe  Ruhe — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  157.) 

mit  stiller  Ruh  feiern  wir — 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  174) 

O  Gefuhl,  Weissager 

Inniger  ewiger  Ruh. 

(Die  Zukunft,  p.  186.) 

Es  erfullet  Wehmut  und  Ruh,  Wonn'  erfullt 

Mir  das  Herz,  wenn  du  dein  Lied,  Himmlische  singst. 

(Siona,  p.  189.) 

ach,  der  Beruhigung 

Dass  meine  Seele,  Gott,  mit  dir  reden  darf. 

(An  Gott.) 

Closely  related  to  the  phrases  just  pointed  out  are  those 
which  describe  the  darker,  the  melancholy  side  of  human 
inner  experiences.  A  marked  sign  of  the  state  of  deepest 
agitation  which  had  suddenly  seized  man,  and  the  conse- 
quent recognition  given  once  more  to  man's  emotional 
nature  in  the  eighteenth  century,  is  the  frequent  mention  in 
the  literary  works  of  that  period  (even  found  in  Goethe) 
of  weeping  and  tears.  This  tendency  has  frequently  been 
misinterpreted;  even  a  physiological  explanation  has  been 
offered.  However,  this  form  of  so-called  sentimentalism 
is  but  a  transitional  stage  from  an  age  of  pure  intellectual- 
ism,  where  reason  ruled  supreme,  to  a  period  in  which  the 
feelings  were  again  to  play  a  part  in  life.  The  language 
which  the  Pietists  chose  to  give  utterance  to  this  sombre 
vein  in  man's  nature,  and  which  Klopstock  and  Herder 
adopted,  is  quite  as  offensive  to  Schonaich  as  are  the  more 
enthusiastic  terms.  He  forgets  that  the  state  of  melancholy 
is  simply  a  transitional  stage  in  human  experience  and  ridi- 
cules the  words:  melancholisch,  ruhen,  weinen,  Thranen, 
lallen,  verstummen,  empfinden,  seufzen,  stammeln,  still, 
Dunkel,  mitternachtlich. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  181 

Er  selbst  entzundet   

Ein  himmlisch  Sehnen. 

(von  Moser,  p.  66.) 

[Wir]    wallen  mit   Wehmut  in  irdischen  Grenzen — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  40,-1721.) 

Das  Auge  fliesst  von  herben  Thrdnen  t 
Den  Zeugen  W  ehmuts-v  oiler  Treue. 


T kronen  Weinen. 

Euch  wein  ich  traurige  Gedanken- 

Ein  Hers,  das  iiber  Jesu  Leiden 
Sich  weich  und  satt  geweint. 


(von  Moser,  p.  51.) 

(von  Moser,  p.  75.) 

(von  Moser,  p.  111.) 

(von  Moser,  p.  169.) 


Thrdnen   ....  zahlen — 

(Mutzell,   p.  251,-1640.) 
(Schlegel,  p.  38.) 
Rinnt,  herbe  Thrdnen,  Tag  und  Nacht. 

(Mutzell,  p.  302)   Gryphius,  1660? 

Bange  Thrdnen — 

(Schlegel,  pp.  37,  146.) 

Der  Christ,  der  hier  mit  Thrdnen  sat — 

(Schlegel,    p.    39.) 

[Wir]  giessen  auf  dein  kiihles  Gras 
Ein  Gottgeweytes   Thrdnen-Maass. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  62,-1722.) 
Thrdnen-S  oaten — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  268,-1730.) 

Er  selbst  entzundet  bey  Seufzer,  Schmerz  und  Thrdnen. 

(von  Moser,  p.  66.) 

Let  us   find  these   same   expressions   in   Klopstock   and 
Herder. 

mit  frommer  Sehnsucht  entbrennen. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  21.) 

Ihr  andern    [Stunden],  seyd  der  sckwermutksvollen 
Liebe  geweiht !    und  umwolkt  und  dunkel! 

(An  Fanny,  p.  110.) 

Ernste  Muse,  verlass  den  wehmuthsvollen  Gedanken, 
Der  dich  traurig  vertieft. 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.   126.) 


182  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Die  erschien  mir !     O  Schmerz,  da  sie  erschienen  war, 
Warum  trafest  du  mich  mit  dem  gewaltigsten 
Deiner  zitternden  Kummer, 
Schwermuthsv oiler t    wie  N'dchte  sind? 

(An  Cidli,  p.   134.) 
Ohne  Wehmut  uns  freun ! 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  176.) 
Wehmut — 

(Aganippe  und  Phiala,  p.  179.) 
Ach,  so  vergehn  mir  die  iibrigen  Jahre  voll  Schwermuth. 

(Selmar  und  Selma,  p.  284.) 
Sollt  um  seinen  entschlafenen  Konig  nicht  Thrdnen  der  Weh- 
muth 
Lange  vergiessen  ein  Volk,  dessen  Wittwe  nicht  weintf 

(Rothschilds  Graber,  p.  287.) 
Weggehn    muss    ich,    und    weinen !     Mein    schwermuthsv  oiler 

Gedanke 
Bebt  noch  gewaltig  in  mir. 

(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 

Ebert,  mich  scheucht  ein  trilber  Gedanke   

Tief  in  die  Melancholey! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 
Thrdnend  wandt'  ich  von  ihm  mein  melancholisches 
Mudes  Auge  dem  Dunkeln  zu. 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 
Einsam  und  wehmutsvoll 
Und  still  und  weinend  irr'  ich,  und  suche  dich — 

(Wingolf  IV,  p.  89.) 
Als  wir  an  jenen  traurigen  Abenden, 
Um  dich  voll  Wehmuth  still  versammelt — 

(Wingolf   V,   p.   92.) 
Nicht  jene  Schwermuth,  die  ich  an  deiner  Brust 
Verstammelnd  weinte — 

(Der  Abschied.) 

Stumme   Wehmuth — 

(Salem.) 

Wehmuth — 

(Der  Abschied;    Siona.) 
Wehmiitiges  Lied — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte.) 

Gedanke  voll  NacHt — 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte.) 

Wenn  seh  ich  dich?  wenn  weint  mein  Auge 
Unter  den  tausendmal  tausend  Thrdnen? 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  4.) 

Thranenvoll  Gebet — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  8.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  183 

Freudenthranen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  pp.  10,  25,  83.) 

(Die  Friihlingsfeyer,  p.  34.)      (Fur  den  Konig,  p.  9.) 
mit  Thrdnen  anbeten — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  37.) 

mit  lauten  Thrdnen  singen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  75.) 

Freudige  Thrdnen — 

(An  Young,  p.  148.) 

Trilbende  Thrdnen, — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  156.) 

mit  lauten  Thrdnen  der  Freude — 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  18.) 


Freudenthranen — 

Mutterthrdnen — 
Entzilckende  Thrdnen — 
Lied  voll  Thrdnen — 


(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  41.) 
(Heinrich  der  Vogler,  p.  113.) 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.   172.) 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.   174.) 

(Wingolf  II,  p.  83.) 
Thrdnen — 

(An  Ebert,  p.  102.)     (Die  todte  Clarissa,  pp.  127,  129.) 
(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  pp.  139,  140.)     (An  Cidli,  p.  154.) 

Thrdnen  der  Wonne,  dankende  Thrdnen — 

(Die  Genesung  des  Konigs,  p.  52.) 
Thrdnen  nach  besserem  Ruhm — 

(Der  Lehrling  der  Griechen,  p.  76.) 
Da  flossen  ungesehne  Thrdnen 
Aus  dem  geruhrten  entziickten  Auge. 

(Wingolf  III,  p.  86.) 
Sahst  du  die  Thrdne,  welche  mein  Herz  vergoss  — 

(Wingolf  V,  p.  89.) 
Geh !    ich  reisse  mich  los,  obgleich  die  mannliche  Tugend 
Nicht  die  Thrdne  verbeut — 

(An  Giseke,  p.  97.) 
Wenn  nicht  Thrdnen  die  Seele  vergiesst — 

(An  Giseke,  p.  98.) 
....    dann  will  ich  thrdnenvoll 
Voll  froher  Thrdnen  jenes  Lebens 
Neben  dir  stehen — 

(An  Fanny,  p.  110.) 
Thrdnen  nach  Ruhm  ....   Thrdnen  geliebt  zu  seyn — 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  122.) 


184  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Da  weinten  wir!    Auch  der,  der  sonst  nicht  Throne;}  kannte, 
Ward  blass,  erbebf  und  weinte  laut! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  137.) 
Sie   [die  Musik]  verachtet 
Alles,  was  uns  bis  zur  Throne  nicht  erhebet ! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  229.) 
Die  Schmerzen  wollt  ich  singen.     Ich  horte  schon 
Des  Abschieds  Thranen  am  Rosenbusch 
Weinen!  weinender  Thranen 
Stimmen  die  Saiten  herab! 

(An  Cidli,  p.  167.) 
Die  Mutter  und  die  Braut  trocknen  die  bebende  Throne  schnell, 
Denn  des  Todten  Verdienst  entweihten  Thranen! 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  173.) 
David horte  der  Mutter 


Freudeweinendes  Lied  — 
weinte  vor  Freude — 


(Messias,  XIX,  line  496.) 
(Messias  III,  line  166.) 


Er  fuhlt'  ihn  nicht,  weinte, 

Weinete  lout,  mit  der  Wehmut  Schauer  auf  W ehmutsschauer , 

dass  ihm  die  ganze  Seele  zerfloss. 

(Messias  XVII,  line  38.) 

Verstummel 

Denn  du  vermagst  nicht,  o  du  der  wehmuthtonenden  Harfe 
Leisester  Laut,  das  erste  Stammeln  der  Mutter  zu  weinen ! 

(Messias,  XII,  line  388.) 

Konnt  ich  jetzt  weinen,  so  weinf  ich  ihn  

(An  meinen  Bruder  Viktor  Ludwig.) 

Ach,  so  werd'  ich  um  dich  mein  ganzes  Leben  durchweinen. 

(Selmar  und  Selma.)1 

Habt  ihr  Thranen,  die  ganz  des  Guten  Innerstes  riihren, 
Thranen  des  tiefsten  Grams,  blutige  Thranen  :  so  weini!2 

(Nantes.) 

1  Compare :  Freude  weinen  (Danklied)  ;  freudeweinend  (Mes- 
sias XV,  322;  X,  367;  XIX,  723);  lachelte  weinend  (Messias  IV, 
723)  ;  Dank  ausweinen  (Messias  XI,  1439)  ;  von  der  Liebe  froh 
weinen  (Petrarca  und  Laura)  ;  das  Herz  weint  (Messias  X,  488)  ; 
vor  Gram  und  Zorn  weinen  (Messias  III,  623)  ;  das  Elend  weinen 
(Messias  X,  513)  ;  voll  Jammer  weinen  (Messias  XII,  583)  ;  das 
Mitleid  weint  (Epigram  104);  (Messias  XIII,  679;  Messias  V, 
629;  III,  616;  V,  98;  XII,  301;  Hermanns  Tod,  scene  14). 

2  Die  Seele  vergiesst  Thranen  (An  Giseke)  ;  Thranen  bewe- 
gen  die  Seele  (Messias  IV,  256)  ;  Thranenvolle  Seele,  dankende 
Thranen  (Messias  XI,  328)  ;  see  further:  Messias  II,  129;  II,  754; 
XI,   566;    XII,   52;    XV,  469;    XII,   743;    XVII,   343;    IV,   257; 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  185 

In  Herder  we  find: 

Nach  manchem  voller  Muh'  und  Sehnen 

Verzeuften  Jahr 
Umarmten  sich  in  frohen  Thranen 
Ein  liebend  Paar. 

(Suphan  XXIX,   150.) 
Die  Thrane,  die  dir  reine  Liebe  weiht 

(Suphan   XXIX,   178.) 
Denn  in  mir  weint  mein  Herz  vor  JJnmut — 

(Suphan  XXIX,   196. )* 

This  rare  use  of  the  word  "tears",  or  even  "weinen",  in 
Herder,  as  compared  with  its  abundance  in  Klopstock  and 
its  reappearance  in  Goethe,  is  quite  worthy  of  note.  The 
spirit  of  exaggerated  melancholy  has  become  less  vivid  in 
Herder;  it  is  still  alive  in  him,  but  is  no  longer  prone  to 
seek  such  an  outward  manifestation. 

Herder,  like  Klopstock,  gives  utterance  to  his  feelings  of 
melancholy. 

Du  Stimme,  die  in  Nachtmelancholien 
Gespensterfurchtbar  Rechnung   mit   mir  haltst    

(Suphan  XXIX,  267.) 
Lass  uns  weinen !    ....    Seelenvoller  und  himmlischer 
ein  Strom  der  Wehmuth 

Nie  spricht  lauter  die  Lipp'  als  wenn  sie  bebt 
Unaussprechlich  bebt  im  Seufzen! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  501.) 
Susse  Wehmut — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  500.) 

XVIII,  173;  IV,  402;  V,  514;  VI,  591;  IX  105;  XVIII,  704; 
IV,  1062;  IV,  770;  XIV,  1258;  XV,  355;  ix!,  166;  X,  646;  XI, 
1381;  VI  357;  XI,  1186;  IV,  904;  III,  690;  XIV,  212;  VIII, 
480;  XIII,  682;  X,  299:  IV,  38;  I,  538;  I,  698;  III,  83;  XX. 
959;  IV,  341;  II,  126;  Salem;  Die  Lehrstunde ;  An  Cidli ;  Die 
Chore;  Gegenwart  der  Abwesenden;  An  Young;  Die  Genesung 
des  Konigs;  Der  Abschied;  An  Ebert;  An  Giseke;  Die  ktinftige 
Geliebte;    Friedrich  der  Fiinfte. 

1  Compare:  Freude  Thranen  (Suphan  XXIX,  188,  361,  523); 
Thrane  riihrt  nicht  (243)  ;  Thranenblick  (512)  ;  Liebesthranen 
Blick  (497)  ;  Thranen  der  Dankbarkeit  (361)  ;  Thranen  ausstro- 
men  (483)  ;  lass  dir  Thranen  danken  (15)  ;  er  scherzt  dir  Thra- 
nen zu  (196)  ;  Thranenblut,  heisse  Jugendzahren  (280)  ;  mit  Thra- 
nen lallen  (281)  ;  bittere  Thranenfluth  (346)  ;  menschenfreund- 
liche  Thranen  (352)  ;    Freudeweinen  (17)  ;   vor  Liebe  weinen  (33) . 


186  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

In  speaking  of  their  aspirations  after  heavenly  bliss,  the 

Pietists  employed  such  phrases  as,  "Erhebung  des  Hertzens 

zur  himmlischen  Siissigkeit",  "Entziickung  und  Ohnmacht 

der    Seelen",    "hochgepriesene    hauffige    gottliche    Entziik- 

kung".1  Terms  descriptive  of  religious  ecstacy  used  by  them 

are:   durchdringen,  beben,  erschuttern,  berauscht,  jauchzen, 

Schauer,  schaudern,  entzticken,  erquicken,  zittern,  Grauen, 

hiipfen.     Expressions  similar  to  these  are  made  the  subject 

of    ridicule    by    Schonaich:     herzerhohend,    sich    erheben, 

himmlisch,   das    Siisse,    Entziickung,   gottlich,   ohnmachtig, 

wallen,    fliessen,    giessen,    beben,    bejauchzen,    erschuttern, 

Hallelujah,  hiipfen,  jauchzen,  erbeben,  Jubelgesang,  schau- 

ern. 

Von  seiner  durchdringenden  Liebe  geriihrt — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  47,-1722.) 

O  Wort,  das  meinen  Geist  durchdringt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  32.) 

Ein  Etwas Durchdringt  mit  Kraft  das  lachzende  Hers. 

(von  Moser,  p.  81.) 
Lass  Deine  Salbung  uns  durchdringen. 

(von  Moser,  p.  137.) 
Mein  Hers,  von  Dank  durchdrungen — 

(von  Moser,  p.  149.) 
O  Ruhrung!    o  Empfinden! 
Das  meinen  Geist  durchging! 

(von  Moser,  p.  157.) 
Ich  bebe   [vor  Traurigkeit]  — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  154,-1727.) 
Bebend  zittern — 

(von  Moser,  p.  141.) 
Drumm  mussten  Deine  theuren  Glieder  zittern, 
Dein  edler  Leib  vor  Angst  und  Graus  erschuttern — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  11,-1713.) 
Von  Stolz  berauscht — 

(Schlegel,  p.  51.) 
Jauchzende  Seele — 

(Schlegel,  p.  64.) 
mit  jauchzendem  Getummel — 

(Schlegel,  p.  100.) 
Jauchzen — 

(Zinzendorf,  pp.  36,  38    [1721];    p.  274   [1730].) 

i  Colberg  I,  p.  68. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  187 

[Das  Priester-Volk]  jauchzt  von  Deiner  Glut  durchdrungen — 

(von  Moser,  p.  45.) 
Ja  jauchzend  wird  mein  Herze  brechen — 

(von  Moser,  p.  147.) 
O  schaudervolle  State  ! — 

(Schlegel,  p.  62.) 
Wie  wird  der  Geist  dadurch  entziickt; — 
Hinauf  gen  Himmel  hingeriickt — 

(Schlegel,  p.  2.) 
Entziickt  von  gottlichem  Gefuhle 
Ertont  das  Chor  vom  Harfen-Spiele 
In  ruhrendem  und  sanftem  Klang. 

(von  Moser,  p.  45.) 
So  filhlet  sich  unser  Geist  voll  Licht; 

Hebt  sich  mit  heiligem  Muth  auf  den  frohlockenden  Schwingen 
Zu  seinem  ersten  Ursprung  hin 
Und  lacht,  voll  himmlischer  Lust,  mit  Gottes  Speise  erquicket — 

(von  Moser,  p.  81.) 
Und  alle  Herzen  zittern — 

(Schlegel,  p.  138.) 
Ich,  Dein  Geschopf,  muss  zittern  und  erbeben — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  11.,— 1713.) 
Drum  mussten  Deine  theuren  Glieder  zittern} 
Dein  edler  Leib  vor  Ansgt  und  Graus  erschiittern, 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  12,-1713.) 
Wer  seufzt  mit  solchem  bangen  Zittern — 

(von  Moser,  p.  41.) 
Den  ganzen  Grdul  der  Siinden 
Lasst  mich  die  mit  Graun  empfinden. 

(Schlegel,  p.  48.) 
Der  Tod,  der  mir  sonst  vieles  Grauen  macht! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  17,-1720.) 
Unser  Herz  hilpft — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  187,-1728.) 

Both  Klopstock  and   Herder  employ  these   enthusiastic 

modes  of  expression,  as  we  shall  see.     However,  Klopstock 

seems   to   have   added   to   this   store   the   terms :    Taumel, 

trunken,1  Schauer,  Schauder,  schaudern.     The  mystic  word 

"Berauscht"  is  not  found  in  Klopstock. 

Sag  es  mit  einem  durchdringenden  Ach — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  279.) 
Aber  wir 
Erbeben  Ewiger  vor  dir — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  21.) 

1  Colberg  I,  p.  68,  does  note  "geistliche  Trunkenheit",  however. 


188  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Deiner  Seele  Beben — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  31.) 
Ich  freue  mich,  und  bebe  doch 
So  driickt  mich  meines  Elends  Joch. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  80.) 
Der  Seraph  stamtnelts,  und  die  Unendlichkeit 
Bebts  durch  den  Umkreis  ihrer  Gefilde  nach — 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  3.) 
Sie  bebt! 

(Das  Anschaun  Gottes,  p.  29.) 
Und  die  eherne  Brust  bebt  ihm. 

(Die  Welten,  p.  29.) 
Dies  vor  Empfindnng  bebende  sanfte  Herzl 

(Wingolf   IV,  p.  89.) 
Mein  schwermuthsv  oiler  Gedanke 
Bebt  noch  gewaltig  in  mir — 

(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 

so  erbebt  ich und  das  bebende  Knie  mir 

Kraftlos  zittert,  und  sank. 


mit  bebender  Stimme  der  Liebe — 
Dreimal  erbebtest  du   [Herz] — 
Bebende  Thranen — 


(An  Ebert,  p.  100.) 

(Salem.) 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert.) 


Ich  will  mit  bebendem  Fusse 
Gehn. 

(An  Ebert,  p.  102.) 
Ach  du  machst  das  Gefuhl  siegend,  es  steigt  durch  dich 
Jede  bliihende  Brust  schoner,  und  bebender, 
Lauter  redet  der  Liebe 
Nun  entzauberter  Mund  durch  dich ! 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.   118.) 
Komm !    ich  bebe  vor  Lust! 

(Hermann  und  Thusnelda,  p.  144.) 
Und  o !    wie  beb  ich !    o  ihr  Unsterblichen ! 

(Die  beyden  Musen,  p.   153.) 
Wie  der  triibe,  bange,  der  tieferschiitterte  Zweifler — 

(Der  Eroberungskrieg.) 
Erschutterung  des  Innersten,  dass  Himmel 
Und  Erde  mir  schwanden 

(An  den  Erloser.) 
Erschiitterung  seiner  Seele — 

(Der  Abschied;    Die  Stunden  der  Weihe.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  189 

Hellere  Lippe  singend  erschutterte  das  Herz — 

(Die  Musik.) 

Der  Erschutterte — 

(Der  Segen.) 

J  duchzen—~' 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  pp.  25,  40,  58.) 
(Heinrich  der  Vogler;    Der  Ziirchersee;    Dem  Erloser.) 

Laut  jauchzen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  35.) 
Ein  lauter  Seegen 
Jauchzt  dem  edleren  zu — 

(Fur  den  Konig,  p.  9.) 
Du  mein  kiinftiges  Seyn,  wie  jauchz'  ich  dir  entgegen! 

(Die  Gliickseligkeit  Aller,  p.  49.) 

Fallet  mit  Jauchzen  vor  dem  Erbarmer  aufs  Antlitz  nieder'.l 
(Die  Genesung  des  Konigs,  p.  54.) 

Jauchzende  Jugend  der  Liebe — 

(Salem.) 
Jubel — 

(Der   Abschied.)     (An   Young.)     (Fur   den   Konig.) 

Seele  entziicken — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  pp.  18,  19.) 

noch  bebt  mir  mein  Herz — 

(An  Cidli,  p.   155.) 
Ich  sahe,  noch  bebf  ich  davor! — 

(Skulda,  p.  212.) 

Sanft  nicht  gebebt,  wenn  die  Schaaren  in  dem  Tempel 
Feyrend  sangen ! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  228.) 
Schallt,  dass  der  Tempel  ihm  bebt! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  230.) 

Sinkt  sie,  von  siisser  Gewalt  der  mdchtigen  Liebe  bezwungen, 
Nie  mit  der  Ddmmerung  Stern  mir  an  die  bebende  Brust? 

(Die  kunftige  Geliebte,  p.  280.) 
Fiihle  dies  bebende  Herz! 

(Selmar  und  Selma,  p.  285.) 

Oft  um  Mitternacht  wehklagt  die  bebende  Lippe — 

(Die  kunftige  Geliebte,  p.  279.) 
Und  denkt  Gedanken,  dass  Entzuckung 
Durch  die  erschutterte  Nerve  schauert. 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  3.) 

1  Hallelujah  (Der  Abschied;  Dem  Allgegenwartigen ;  Die  Friih- 
lingsfeyer;  Der  Erbarmer;  Die  Genesung  des  Konigs.)  Jubel- 
chore   (Die  Friihlingsfeyer). 


190  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

....  so  traf  der  Gedanke 
Meinen  erschutterten  Geist — 

(An  Ebert,  p.  100.) 
Ein  mir  lispelnder  Hauch,  und  ein  erschiittemdes  Ach — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  280.) 
Jede  Tiefe  des  Herzens  erschuttem. 

(Der  Bund.) 
mit  dem  ersten  entziickenden  Gruss — 

(Die  Genesung,  p.  13.) 
In  Entzuckung  vergehn — 

(Die  Friihlingsfeyer,  p.  32.) 

Aufflammen  in  Entzuckung — 

(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  39.) 

Noch  mit  Entzuckung  hor'  ich  der  Erde  gelindes  Rauschen! 
(Die  Genesung  des  Konigs,  p.  53.) 

Sing  in  Entzuckung — 

(Die  Gestirne,  p.  60.) 

....   o  sey  dann,  Gefuhl 
Der  Entzuckung,  wenn  auch  ich  sterbe,  mit  mir! 

(Der  Tod,  p.  65.) 

mit  Graun  fullt,  und  Ehrfurcht  der  Anblick  mit  Entzuckung 
Das  Herz  dess,  der  sich  da  freut,  wo  Freud  ist. 

(Der  Vorhof  und  der  Tempel,  p.  68.) 

Schon  gl'dnzt  die  Trunkenheit  des  Quells  dir, 
Ebert,  aus  hellem  entzuckt  em  Auge. 

(Wingolf  I,  p.  80.) 

Da  flossen  ungesehne  Thrdnen 

Aus  dem  geriihrten  entziickten  Auge. 

(Wingolf  III,  p.  86.) 

Sing  noch  Beredsamkeit !    die  erste  weckt 
Den  Schwan  in  Glasor  zur  Entzuckung  auf — 

(Wingolf  II,  p.  82.) 

Gedankenvoller,  tief  in  Entziickungen 
Verlohren,  schwebt  bey  dir  die  Natur. 

(Wingolf  VIII,  p.  95.) 
Ihm  horcht  entzuckt — 

(.Wingolf,  V,  p.  91.) 

wenn  mich  die  junge  Lust 

In  die  Wipfel  des  Hains  entzuckt  I 

(Bardale,  p.   105.) 

Denn  sie  fuhlet  sich  ganz,  und  giesst  Entzuckung 
In  dem  Herzen  empor  die  voile  Seele — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  156.) 
Entzuckende  Thrdnen — 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.   174.) 

Ahndung  in  mir   dunkles  Gefuhl  der  Entzuckung. 

(Die  Zukunft,  p.  186.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  191 

Es  drangen  alle  Genien  sich 

Der  entzuckenden  Harmonie  urn  ihn  her. 

(Sponda,  p.  193.) 

mit  Entziickung,  wall'  ich  im  Hain  der  Palmen — 

(Unsre  Fiirsten,  p.  223.) 
Zitternd  freu  ich  mich — 

(Das  Anschaun  Gottes,  pp.  25,  29.) 
Mein  Herz  zittert! 

(Wingolf  VI,  p.  93.) 
[Ich  will]  zitternd  mein  Haupt  gen  Himmel  erheben-^ 

(An  Ebert,  p.  102.) 
Oft  erfullet  er  auch,  was  das  erzitternde 
Voile  Herz  kaum  zu  wunschen  wagt. 

(An  Bodmer,  p.  115.) 
Schon  erzittert  das  Volk! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  230.) 

Des  Celten  Leyer,   die  die  Felsen 

Taumeln,  und  wandeln  aus  Wolken  lehrte. 

(Wingolf  I,  p.  78.) 
Taumellos — 

(Der  Rheinwein,  p.  164;    Skulda,  p.  214.) 
Und  denkt  Gedanken,  dass  Entziickung 
Durch  die  erschuiterte  Nerve  schauert! 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  3.) 
Und  andrer  Schauer  Trunkenheiten 
Werden  dich  dort,  wo  du  schlummerst,  wecken. 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  3.) 
mit  hingesenktem  trunkenem  Blick  sie  seh ! 

(Dem   Erloser,  p.   5.)     (Compare:    Die   beyden   Musen, 
p.  151;    Die  Chore,  p.  227;    An  Young.) 
Trunkene  Lust — 


Trunken  von  Liebe — 

Die  trunknere  Lippe — 

nahte  die  Begeistrung  mit  ihm, 

O  wie  trunken  von  dem  Mimer! 

horchte  mit  trunknem  Ohr — 

Die  trunk ne  Seel' — 

(Wir  und  Sie,  p.  221.) 
Dass  entziickt,  wenn  sie  sah,  was  gebohren  war, 
Ihr  des  beseelteren  Blicks  Trunkenheit  schwamm. 

(Die  Barden,  p.  232.) 


(An  Cidli,  p.  154.) 

(An  Cidli,  p.  156.) 

(An  Gleim,  p.  159.) 

(Braga,  p.  207.) 
(Skulda,  p.  214.) 


192  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Das  sagt  uns  kein  Dichter, 

Selbst  wir  entziickt  im  Geschwatz  trunkner  Beredsamkeit  nicht. 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  283.) 

wenn  sie   [die  voile  Seele],  dass  sie  geliebt  wird, 

Trunken  von  Liebe  sich's  denkt ! 

(An   Sie.) 

wo's  von  Entzuckungen 

Taumelnd  schwebt  um  mein  trunknes  Haupt! 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 

Trunkenheit  glanzt  aus  hellem  entzucktem  Auge- 

(Wingolf  I.) 

Trunknes  Wiedersehen 

(An  Gott.) 

(An  Gott.) 

(Kaiser  Alexander.) 

(Das  Denkmal.) 

(Das  Denkmal.) 


Trunken  in  ihrem  Arm — 

W onnetrunknes  Auge — 

Trunkner  Geist — 

Darf  sich  taumelnd  die  Freude  freun- 

Taumelflug — 

(Die  Ratgeberin.) 
Weniger  Herzen  erfullt,  mit  Ehrfurcht  und  Schauer 
Gottes   Allgegenwart ! 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  17.) 
mit  heiligem  Schauer 

Brech'  ich  die  Blum  ab  

mit  heiligem  Schauer,  fuhl'  ich  der  Liifte  Wehn — 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  19.) 

von  richtendem  Ernst  schauernd — 

(Der  Lehrling  der  Griechen,  p.  76-) 
Voll  heiliger  tiefeingehiillter  Schauer — 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.   138.) 

Was  nicht  fullet  den  Geist  mit  Schauer — 

(Die  Chore,  p.  229.) 

Unbesingbare  Lust,  ein  siisser  begeisternder  Schauer — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  280.) 

Schauert  hin   [Winde]   durch  den  Wald — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  282.) 

[Er]    Weinete  laut,  mit  der   Wehmut  Schauer  auf   Wehmuts- 

schauer — 
(Messias  XVII,  line  38.) 

da  liefen  mir  Schauer  durch  alle  Gebeine — 

(Messias  VI,  line   121.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  193 

Machtiges  Feuer,  ein  Schauer  vom  Himmel 
Hub  ihn  empor. 

(Messias  IV,  line  391.) 
....tief   in   mein   Herz   hin 
Drang  ein  Schauer  wallender  Freuden — 

(Salem.) 
Auch  scheint  die  Natur  hier 
Ueberall  still  zu  schauern,  als  ware  Gott  zugegen. 

(Messias  V,  line  653.) 
Ein  stiller  Schauer  deiner  Allgegenwart 
Erschiittert,  Gott,  mich. 

(An  Gott.)1 

Let.us  now  note  instances  of  the  use  of  the  above  phrases, 
descriptive  of  the  more  violent  emotions,  in  Herder.  The 
use  of  the  term  "Trunkenheit"  is  not  so  frequent  as  in  Klop- 
stock;  Herder  seems  not  to  have  grasped  its  spiritual  sig- 
nificance, or  at  least  to  have  preferred  an  avoidance  of  the 
word  in  that  sense.  A  few  instances,  however,  may  be 
indicated : 

Dir  dank  ich  meine  Trunkenheit! 

ich  trank,  ward  trunkent  und  erfreut! 

(Fluch  iiber  die  Gelegenheit,  Suphan  XXIX,  p.  275.) 

Schau,  wie  uniher  der  ganze  Himmel  trunken 
sich  spiegelt  in  des  Meeres  Angesicht- 

(Suphan  XXIX,  172.) 

Was  alldurchwallend  die  Natur  bewegt,   

Und  dir  im  Auge,  jetzt  von  Thrdnen  triibe, 
Jetzt  freudetrunken  himmlisch  glanzt,  ist — Liebe. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  p.  171.) 

Trunken  sehen — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  73.) 
Taumeln — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  265.) 

1  Compare:  Im  Schauer  namloser  Angst  (Messias  IV,  852); 
dem  Schauer  steht  dab  Haar  empor  (Die  Denkzeiten)  ;  Schauer 
des  ewigen  Todes  (Messias  V,  611)  ;  Schauer  der  Nacht  (Messias 
V,  596)  ;  mit  heiligem  Schauer  vernehmen  (Messias  VIII,  325)  ; 
mit  freudig  schauerndem  Danke  (Messias  XI,  552)  ;  langsame 
Schauer  (Messias  II,  755)  ;  sanftes  Schauers  voll  (Messias  XX, 
1052)  ;  sanfter  Ahndung  Schauer  (Die  Wenigen)  ;  schaurig  (Her- 
manns Tod,   scene   I)  ;     Schauer   des   ewigen   Todes    (Messias   V, 

611)  ;   die  Erde erbebte  mit  stillem  Schauer  (Messias  V,  378) ; 

Ein  gewaltiger  Schauer  fasste  den  Seraph   (Messias  I,  148)  ;    der 
siisse  Schauer  (Der  Abschied). 


194  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

ich  schaudre,  schaudernd 

wach  ich,  und  um  mich  Nacht! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  231.) 

Sohn  schaudernder  Mitternacht — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  341.) 

Gott  ist  um  mich !  Hier  fiihlt  die  Seek  einen  Tropfen  von  dem 
Schauder  der  sie  durchstromt,  wenn  sie,  als  ein  neugeschaffner 
Engel,  einst  vor  Gott  tritt!  (Lebensbild  I,  2,  p.  82.) 

Schauer  klang  ihm  mdchtig  ewig  ins  Innre. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  340. )i 

. .  O  hor's  allmachtge  Stimme 
die  mir  auch  diese  Zeugenwelt, 
ich  seh  und  beb,  gewiss  vor  Augen  stellt: 
Ich  beb  :  der  Richter,  Engel,  Engel,  ich ! — ich  hore : 
Es  donnert — um  mich  rauschts,  wie  Heere : 
in  mir;    wie  still?     Gott?    Engel,  ich  hore 
Erbebe  Herz  und  schwore. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  267.) 

— mit  Beben 
der  Freude  starb  Roms  Patriot! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  33.) 

die  Laufe  bebt  und  singt — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  62.) 2,  3 

Wie  schauderts  hier !   

Hor'  Daphne,  hor'  ein  Wunderlied 
im  Schauder  dieser  Baume! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  305.) 

die  Nacht  schaudervoll — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  52.) 

Allmachtiger  Schauer  dringt  durch  alle  Wesen — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  115.) 

1  Compare:  schaudernd  (Suphan  XXIX,  141,  16,  10,  310); 
tiefschaudernd  (268)  ;  Schaur  (XXVIII,  41)  ;  Gottes  Schauer 
(XXIX,  376);  heiliger  Schaur  (257);  kalte  Schauer  (358); 
Todesschauer  (358)  ;  Schauder  (24)  ;  schaudern  (42,  1,  6)  ;  Pro- 
phetenschauder  (1)  ;  schauert  (504)  ;  der  Gottheit  Schatten  win- 
ken  ....  sein  Abhauch,  Seele,  winkt  mir  Schauer  auf  Schauer 
schon  (378)  ;  ewge  schaudernde  kalte  Nacht  (327)  ;  Heldenschaur 
(330);    Abschiedsschauer    (483). 

2  Compare:  beben  (Suphan  XXIX,  10,  25,  234,  460);  Herz 
bebt  (34)  ;  bebend  (41)  ;  Zarte  Laute  mit  ihrem  sanften  Beben 
(152)  ;   mit  Beben  erhort'  ichs  (377)  ;  Lippe  bebt  im  Seufzen(  501). 

3  Otto  Lyon  gives  but  a  few  passages  from  Goethe  which  show 
the  use  of  Schauder  and  schaudern;    many  more  could  be  found. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  195 

Wer  bin  ich?    Alles  erwacht  in  mir!     Mein  Geist!    

Hohen Tiefen !  ich  schaudre! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  258.) 

ich  schwebt'  entziickt 

auf  des  Grases  Wipfeln,  iiber  Blumen  und  Klee 
und  befliigelt  schweben  die  Gedanken  empor — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  266.) 

The  word  "erschiittern"  is  not  a  favorite  one  in  Herder; 

on  the  other  hand,  he  seems  fond  of  the  term  "hupfen", 

rarely,  if  ever,  found  in  Klopstock. 

So  gehn  am  Auferstehungsfeste 

Aus  Asche  Leiber  auf, 

Und  hupfen  froh  urns  Grab  in  Strahlenrustung : 

So  hupft — der  Seher  siehts! — so  hupfst  du  Stadt 

Bald,  statt  des  Greuels  der  Verwiistung, 

Um  eine  neue  Stadt! 


Und  dreimal  hupft  die  Erde  wieder 
und  jauchzt  Hallelujah. 

O  wie  hiipfet  das  Herz  mir 

Und  Erden  hupfen — 


(Suphan  XXIX,  15.) 

(Suphan  XXIX,  226.) 
(Suphan  XXIX,  677.) 


(Suphan  XXIX,  16.) 
Sie   [Musik]   bebt  aus  Chemoniser  Saiten 
den  zartsten  Silberpfeil  in  meine  Brust 
Ihre  Laute  bebt;    ich  bebel 
sie  hupft;    ich  hupfl    sie  schwebt;    ich  schwebe! — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  236.) l 
Da  jauchzte  Katharinens  Welt, 
Und  bebte  nicht  mehr. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  25.) 
Er  siehts  und  jauchzt  und  stirbt; — 
O  wer  jauchzt  ihn  nicht  nach — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  269.) 

1  Compare:  Hallelujah  (Suphan  XXIX,  13);  Jubel  (XXIX, 
13,  228)  ;  jauchzen  (XXIX,  16,  17,  30,  248,  252,  499)  ;  Freudenton 
(XXIX,  31);  Ton  der  Freude  (XXIX,  78);  Himmelsfreuden 
(XXIX,  35)  ;  entziickt  den  Blick  empor  wenden  (XXIX,  14) ; 
das  Chor  der  horchenden  Entziickten  (XXIX,  87)  ;  entziickt  sin- 
gen  (XXIX,  179)  ;  dann  werde  ich  hoch  zu  dir  entziickt,  und  singe 
Dich  (XXIX,  234)  ;  entziickt  (XXIX,  269)  ;  entziickender  Fest- 
geruch  (XXIX,  271)  ;  Freundschaft  entziickt  Haupt  und  Brust 
(XXIX,  284)  ;  mit  entziickter  Seele  (XXIX,  287)  ;  Ohnmacht  der 
Zerstreuung  (XXIX,  257);  die  Welt  entzucken  (XXIX,  412); 
alle  Herzen  wallen  auf  (XXIX,  485). 


196  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Denn  wenn   ihm  Morgensterne  jauchzen — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  16.) 
Denn  ich   [die  lyrische  Muse]   sing,  hiipf  alles — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  252.) 

Terms  which  attempt  to  express  moments  of  great  happi- 
ness or  great  sadness — Lallen,  verstummen,  seufzen,  stam- 
meln — are  severely  criticized  by  Schonaich.  These,  as  we 
should  suppose,  are  of  mystic  origin,  showing  the  enthu- 
siastic state  of  mind  which  fails  to  find  expression  in 
language. 

Seufzer — 

(Miitzell,  p.  251,-1640.) 
Gott!    werd  ich  stets  von  Seufzen  miide — 

(Schlegel,  pp.  143,  98.) 
Dein  noch  unverstandliches  Lallen 
Muss  den  Seelen  susse  schallen. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  26,-1720.) 
Seufzen — 

'(Zinzendorf,  pp.  38  [1721]  ;  39  [1721];  256  [1730].) 
Seufzer — 

(Zinzendorf,  pp.  264   [1730];    335    [1733].) 

Mein  innerstes  der  Seelen  gliihet, 

Indem  mir  Wort  und  Ausdruck  fliehet  .... 

Indem  ein  schwaches  Lallen — 

(von  Moser,  p.  12.) 
Wer  $e  ifzt  mit  solchem  bangen  Zittern — 

(von  Moser,  p.  41.) 
Dir  verborgene  Seufzer  schicken — 

(von  Moser,  p.  55.) 
Er  selbst  entzundt  bey  Seufzen — 

(von  Moser,  p.  66.) 

der  Du  manche  Nacht 

mit  Thranen  seufzend  zugebracht.. 

(von  Moser,  p.  94.) 
Will  ich  von  euren  Gottes-Liedern 
Das  Echo  stammelnd  hier  erwiedern — 

(von  Moser,  p.   111.) 

Klopstock  experienced  the  same  enthusiastic  state  of 
mind,  and  hence  in  describing  sadness,  despondency,  melan- 
choly, as  well  as  extreme  happiness,  he  speaks  of  "seufzen" 
and  "stammeln".     We  find  only  rare  use  of  the  mystic  term, 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  197 

"Lallen",  however;  on  the  other  hand,  Klopstock  seems  to 
have  introduced  the  word  "verstummen". 

Seufzen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  29.)     (Der  Abschied.) 
Stammeln — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  22.) 
Lob  ausstammeln — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  81.) 

der  Mann  kam 

Seufzend  ini  Ozean  urn — 

(An  Giseke,  p.  97.) 
Nach  mir  einmal  auch  seufzen  wirst — 

(An  Bodmer,  p.  114.) 
Dieser  erseufzende  Mund — 

(Die  kunftige  Geliebte,  p.  282.) 
Kein  unvollendetes  Wort,  welches  im  Seufzer  verrlog — 

(Die  kunftige  Geliebte,  p.  283.) 

Jungling,   der  seiner  Einsamkeit  Tage 

Fuhlt  und  seufzend  ihr  Ende  verlangt — 

(Salem.) 
Wo  kein  miitterlich  Ach,  bang  bei  dem  Scheidekuss 
Und  aus  blutender  Brust  geseufzt — 

(Der  Lehrling  der  Griechen.) 

aber  nun  redeten 

Frohe  Seufzer  und  Thr'dnen  nur. 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 

In  this  verse  we  see  how  the  poet  tries  to  show  the  intimate 
relation  between  joy  and  sorrow.  We  find  him  doing  this 
constantly;  besides  presenting  us  with  the  highest  joy  and 
deepest  sorrow  he  gives  us  descriptions  of  a  middle  state, 
wherein  both  emotions  merge.  This,  later,  becomes  a  fun- 
damental thought  in  Herder's  philosophy;  and  as  such  it 
finds  recurrent  expression  in  his  poetry  as  well  as  in  his 
prose. 

We  find  instances  of  the  word  "stammeln" : 

Schlafend  sieht  sie  den  Jungling,  wie  er  in  Thranen  zerfliesst, 
Und  mit  bebender  Stimme  die  Liebe 

Und  stammelnd  ihr  sagt,  dann  wieder  in  Thr'dnen  zerfliesset 
Und  mit  stummer  Wehmuth  ihr  flehet. 

(Salem.) 
Der  Seraph  stammelts — 

(Der  Erloser,  p.  3.) 


198  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

[So  soil]   Meine  Lippe  dich  stammeln — 

(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  40.) 
Der  nicht  noch  Einmal  Dank,  wenn  er  entschlummert, 
Gott  aus  des  Herzens  Innersten  stammle — 

(Die  Genesung  des  Konigs,  p.  54.) 
Dem  unsre  Psalme  stammeln — 

(Das  grosse  Hallelujah,  p.  69.) 
....  jenen  furchtbaren  Tag,  den  die  Muse  des  Tabor 
jetzo  stammelnd  besingt — 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  126.) 

doch  lispelt 

stammelnde  Freude  mit  auf ! 

(An  Cidli,  p.  167.) 

Kaum  stammelnd 

Hort'  er  ihn   [Prophetengesang]   schon! 

(Aganippe  und  Phiala,  p.  78.) 
Oft  stammelst  du  mir  die  Stimme  der  Natur — 

(Der  Hugel  und  der  Hain,  p.  254.) 
Kein  halb  stammelnder  Blick  voll  unaussprechlicher  Reden — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  283.) 

Kaum  gebohren  wird  ihm  das  Kind  schon  lallen. 

(Fur  den  Konig,  p.  10.) 

Wenn  in  des  edelmuthigen   Gellert  harmonischem  Leben 
Jede  Saite  verstummt! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  100.) 

die  verstummende  Seele — 

(An  Ebert,  p.  102.) 
Wer  mehr  empfand,  blieb  unbeweglich  stehen, 
Verstummt',  und  weint'  erst  spat. 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  137.) 
Und  schon  waren  die  Saiten 
Klage  zu  singen  verstummt! 

(An  Cidli,  p.  168.) 
Verstumme ! 
Denn  du  vermagst  nicht,  o  du  der  wehmuttonenden  Harfe 
Leisester  Laut,  das  erste  Stammeln  der  Mutter  zu  weinen! 

(Messias  XII,  line  388.) 

Er   [wie  stammeln  wir  ihn],  der  Unaussprechliche — 

(Beruhigung.) 

Ebert    verstummst  du  nicht  hier? 

(An  Ebert.) 

Unempfundene  Gebete  stammeln — 

(Der  Abschied.) 

Tone  der  Menschen  herabzustammeln — 

(An  Gott.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  199 

Stammelnde  Freude — 

(Gegenwart  der  Abwesenden.) 
Verstummend  weinen — 

(Der  Abschied.) 
Verstummen— 

(Wink.) 
Stilles  Stammlen — 

(An  Gott.) 

Instead  of  the  word  "stammeln",  which  might  be  called 

a  favorite  with  Klopstock,  Herder  employs  the  mystic  term 

"lallen"  with  practically  the  same  meaning. 

Volk,  verstehst  es  nicht 

Wias  da  aus  Blick  und  Zunge  bricht 

Und  "Mutter"   lallt  im  tiefsten   Schmerz — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  p.  40.) 

ich  lallf  Jehovah  nach  und  bete  an . . 

(Suphan  XXIX,   237.) 

denen  ich  voll nachgelallt 

oft  benetzt  mit  heissen  Jugendzahren. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  280.) 
Lallen — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  17,  235,  244.) 

In  common  with  Klopstock,  Herder  makes  frequent  use 

of  "seufzen",  "stumm",  and  "verstummen". 

Die  Nachtigall  seufzt'  tiber  seinem  Haupt 
Ihr  Lied  der  Liebe — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  205.) 
Ungehort 
Erklang  Dein  Seufzen  in  ihr  Herz. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  208.) 
Wo  bist  du — Zartlicher — den  mein  Gedanke  kusset 
nach  dem  mein  Seufzer  seufzt,  und  stille  Sehnsucht  brennt. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  232.) 
Die  Seele  wendet 
sich  in  sich  selbst  und  warmt  sich 
mit  Seufzen)  sich  mit  einer  warmen  Thr'dne — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  510.) 
O  du,  in  Einem  grossen  Seufzer 
Gen  Himmel  ziehend ! 

(Suphan  XXIX,  303.) l 
Stumm 
1st  alles  um  mich  her;    ach  so  verstummt — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  204.) 

1  Compare:    seufzen  (Suphan  XXIX,  174);    hoffen  und  seufzen 
(XXIX,   450)  ;    seufzen   in    Schmerz    (XXIX,   550)  ;     Empfindung 


200  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

soil  stumm  denn  Eines  herben  Falles 

ich  alle  sehn 
Da  sterben? 

(Suphan  XXIX,  505.) 
Ein  hohes  Loblied 
Dem  der  Sturm  verstummet — 

(Suphan  XXIX,  219.) l,  2 

We  have  said  before  that  the  mysticists  laid  more  em- 
phasis on  the  spiritual  and  emotional  side  of  man's  nature 
than  on  the  physical  and  rational;  as  a  consequence,  we 
find  repeated  occurence  of  Herz,  Seele,  Gefuhl,  Empfindung, 
Schmerz,  Begier,  Trieb,  riihren,  spiiren,  wallen,  geniessen. 

Mein  Hers  lass  nicht  erkalten — 

(Miitzell,  p.  21,-1630.) 
Lass  deines  Geistes  Morgenrothe 
In  unsern  dunklen  Herzen  sein — 

(Miitzell,  p.  204.) 
Und  war'  ein  Hers  so  fest  als  Stein — 

Zinzendorf.     (Krummacher,  p.  112.) 

Hers  und  Hers  vereint  zusammen. 

Zinzendorf.     (Krummacher,  p.    112.) 

Auch  mein  Hers  brennt  vor  Lieb — 

(Schlegel,  pp.  73,  148.) 
Und  alle  Herzen  zittern — 

(Schlegel,  p.  138.) 
Mein  Herse  ist  dem  Herrn  iibergeben — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.   17,-1720.) 
Da  ist  mein  offnes  Hers — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  39,-1720.) 
So  komm  und  blase  Deine  Flamm 
Im  Her  sen  auf — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  137, — 1725.) 

Nur  unsre  Hersen  sollen  sich 
An  diesem  Abende  verbinden — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  147,-1726.) 

seufzete  (XXIX,  233)  ;  Menschenseufzer  und  Bruderthrane 
(XXIX,  525)  ;  stummen  ersten  Seufzer  wiederfodern  (XXIX, 
502)  ;  nie  spricht  lauter  die  Lipp'  als  wenn  sie  bebt  unaussprech- 
lich  bebt  im  Seufzen  (XXIX,  501)  ;  Seufzerlein  (XXIX,  498)  ; 
seufzend  liegen   (XXIX,  204)  ;    Verseufztes  Jahr   (XXIX,  150)  ; 

1  Compare:  stummes  Bild  (XXIX,  502);  die  Lippe  bebt  wie 
stummen  ein  Seufzerlied  noch  (p.  499)  ;  verstummt  (210,  226.) 

2  Otto  Lyon  quotes  a  few  passages  from  Goethe  which  show  the 
use  of  Stammeln,  unaussprechlich,  Wehmuth,  verstummt,  dammert, 
warmen  (pp.  46f). 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  201 

unser  Herze  hupfet — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  187—1728.) 
Du  Ehr-erbittiglich  geliebter  Herzens-Bruder ! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  326, — 1733.) 

Herz  der  Triebe — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  358,-1734.) 
Herz  der  Gottlichen  Natur, 
Herz  der  offenbarten  Liebe, 
Herz  der  Triebe, 
Unsre  Herzen  opfern  Dir 

Liebe  hier  

Herz  der  Welt !    belebe  uns   

Gottheit,  unsre  Hiitte  zittert, 

Aber  unser  Herze  lacht !   

Herz  der  Kraft!    durchdringe  doch — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  196—1728.     Compare  p.  316,-1732.) 
Mein  Herze  drangt  sich  zu  dem  Munde — 

(von  Moser,  p.  11.) 

Welch  eine  Salbung  durchstromt  mein  Herz! — 

(von  Moser,  p.  33.) 
Manch  Stromlein  von  den  Segens-Fluten 
Sich  in  mein  diirstend  Herz  ergiesst. 

(von  Moser,  p.  57.) 
In  deren  Herzen  reine  Liebe  flammet — 

(von  Moser,  pp.  69,  128.) 

Ein  Etwas  Durchdringt  mit  Kraft  das  lachzende  Herz — 

(von  Moser,  p.  81.) 
Das  Herz,  von  Freude  geriihrt,  preist —  .... 
Dir  danke  mein  brennendes  Herz — 

(von  Moser,  pp.  82,  149,  130.) 
Oft  sturmt  auf  das  gelassne  Herz 
Ein  Heer  verzagender  Gedanken — 

(von  Moser,  p.  100.) 
Das  Feuer,  das  Dein  Herz  entzundt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  139.    Compare  pp.  140,  143,  161.) 
Ein  Herz,  das  iiber  Jesu  Leiden 
Sich  weich  und  sattgeweint. 

(von  Moser,  p.    169.) 
Hor  unser  Gbet,  das  wir  jetzund 
Zu  dir  sprechen  von  Herzen  Grund. 

(Mutzell,  p.  5.)     V.  Herberger,  1610. 
Mich  iiberzeuget  Herz  und  Sinn — 

(Mutzell,  p.  25.) 
Und  die  nicht  danken  Gott,  mit  Herz  und  Munde: — 

Heinrich  Klose,  1633.     (von  Mutzell,  p.  224.) 
Die  edle  Seele — 

Joh.  Hermann,   1630.     (Mutzell,  p.   16.) 


202  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Seele  wird  betrubt — 

(Schlegel,  p.  62.) 
Jauchze  Seele — 

(Schlegel,  p.  64.) 

Nach  dir Durstet  meine  ganze  Seele — 

(Schlegel,  p.  113.) 
Hat  meine  Seele  Jesum  lieb — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  137,-1725.) 
Wie  selten  sind  die  auserwehlten  Seelen — 

(Zinzendorf,    p.    159,-1727.) 
Seelen-Freund — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  167,-1727.) 
Unsre  Seel  ist  ja  genesen — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  196,-1728.) 

Wenn  wir  nicht  mit  ganzer  Seele  

Uns  in  Seine  Liebe  ziehn  — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  265,-1730.) 
Darum  entbrennt  die  Seele  bald — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  284,-1731.) 
Die  Liebe  macht  die  Seele  still — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  285,-1791.) 
Meine  Seele  opfert  dir — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  316,-1792.) 
Ein  Balsam,  doch  ein  Schwerdt,  das  machtig 
Durchs  Innerste  der  Seelen  gent- 

(von  Moser,  p.  50.) 
So  wie  Du  Quell  der  reinsten  Liebe ! 
In  aufgethane  Seelen  quillst — 

(von  Moser,  p.  52.) 
miudem  vereinigt  und  verbunden 
An  welchen  meine  Seele  glaubt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  57.) 

Bringt  erst  die  Seele  zur  volligen  Ruh — 

(von  Moser,  p.  91.) 
Durchheilige  all  meiner  Seelen  Triebe — 

(von  Moser,  p.  107.) 
ziinde  meine  Seele  an — 

(von  Moser,  p.  116.) 
Den  Nahmen,  welcher  unser  Hers  erfreut 
Und  als  ein  Salbol  Geist  und  Seel  erneut — 

(von  Moser,  p.  130.) 
durstge  Seele — 

(von  Moser,  p.  136.) 
Seele  liebt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  152.) 
So  fiihlt's  [ein  Herz]  die  Kraft  von  Jesu  Blut — 

Zinzendorf.     (Krummacher,  p.  63.) 


TREATMENT  OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  203 

Von  alien,  die  Dich   [Liebe]   je  gef unlet — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  146, — 1726.) 

Zwar  filhl  ich  meines  Lebens  Quelle — 

(von  Moser,  pp.  30,  12.) 

Ja,  ich  fiihl  ein  Scheiden 

Der  Geist  will  sich  vom  Leibe  kleiden, 
Er  fiihlet  Gottes  Gegenwart — 

(von  Moser,  p.  32.) 

Was  fiihlet  nicht  mein  Geist  vor  Frieden ! 

(von  Moser,  pp.  33,  114,  81.) 

Wie  Gott  der  ganze  Himmel  fuhlt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  111.) 

Wir  fiihlen  mehr,  als  Worte  sagen  konnen — 

(von  Moser,  p.  246, — 1748.) 

Lasst  mich  die   [Siinden]   mit  Graun  empfinden — 

(Schlegel,  p.  48.) 

Wie  unaussprechlich  weit  erhaben 
Empfindet  sich  mein  edler  Geist — 

(von  Moser,  pp.  26,  152.) 

Ein  unaussprechliches  Gefuhl  durchgeht  die  denkende  Seele — 

(von  Moser,  p.  80.) 

Ein  Etwas das  man  schmackhaft  empfindet — 

(von  Moser,  p.  81.) 

Dir  dankt  mein  brennendes  Hers  mit  der  empfindlichsten  Liebe — 

(von  Moser,  p.  82.) 

mit  unaussprechlich   schmerzlichem  Empfinden — 

von  Moser,  p.  104.) 

O  welch  ein  beugendes  Empfinden 
Durchgeht  mein  Hers — 

(von  Moser,  pp.  133,  67.) 

zu  unausloschlich  gleichem  Liebe-Empfinden — 

(von  Moser,  p.  143.) 

Dass  oft,  von  Schmerz  durchwiihlt,  das  Auge  thrdnte — 

(von  Moser,  p.  85.) 

[Liebe]    Entsiinde  meine   Triebe — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  13,-1714.) 

Der  Vater  enibrennet  vor  herslichem  Trieb — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  46, — 1722.) 

In  dieser  Art,  aus  solchem  Trieb — 
Hat  meine  Seele  Jesum  lieb. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  137, — 1725.) 


204  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Wie  brennen,  wie  flammen  die  freudigen  Triebe — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  148—1726.) 
Der  aufgeregte  Liebes-Trieb — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  153,-1727.)) 
Theure  Bruder!    eure  Liebe 
Ziindet  meine  lauen  Triebe— 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  254,-1730.) 
Du  stellst  in  gottlichem  Gerichte 
Dem  Sunder  'ruhrend  vors  Gesichte — 

(von  Moser,  p.  51.) 
Das  Herz  von  Freude  geruhrt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  82.) 
Ist's  moglich,  ruhren  euch  noch   Thrdnen? 

(von  Moser,  p.  112.) 

Wann  ihr  den  Trieb  der  Gottheit  fuhlet — 

(von  Moser,  p.  12.) 
Und  durch  den  feurigen  Trieb  des  jammernden  Erbarmens — 

(von  Moser,  p.  61.) 
Durchheilige  all  meiner  Seelen-Triebe — 

(von  Moser,  p.  107.) 
O  welch  Entzucken!    welche  Triebe! 

(von  Moser,  p.  135.) 
Den  Brand  der  feurigen  Erlosungs-Triebe — 

(von  Moser,  p.  143.) 
Lass  uns  spiiren,  du  seist  der  Gott. 

Michael  Henrici,  1639.     (Mutzell,  p.  182.) 
Geniesst  der  Mund  auch  ausserlich 
Nichts  von  der  ird'schen  Speise — 

(von  Moser,  p.  103.) 
O  Freund!    es  wallt  in  mir — 

(von  Moser,  p.  149.) 

These   same   expressions,   emphasizing   man's   emotional 

nature,  may  be  traced  in  Klopstock. 

Damit  ihr  Herz  entbrenn! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  35.) 

aus  ganzem  Herzen  lieben — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  91.) 

So  soil  meine  Seele  dich  denken 
Dich  empfinden  mein  Herz ! 

(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  40.) 

Wie  erhebt  sich  das  Herz — 

(Dem  Unendlichen,  p.  63.) 

Mein  Herze  zittert! 

(Wingolf  VI,  pv  93.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  205 

was  das  Hers  der  Edlen  hebet — 

(Wingolf  VI,  p.  94.) 
[Du]    fur  mein  Herze  gemacht — 

(An  Bodmer,  p.   114.) 

Oft  erfiillet  er  auch,  was  das  ersitternde 
Voile  Hers  kaum  zu  wunschen  wagt. 

(An  Bodmer,  p.  115.) 

und  tauscht,  tauschet  mein  Hers  mich  nicht?   

wie  dankbar 

Wallt  mein  freudiges  Hers  in  mir. 

Nichts  Unedles,  kein  Stolz  (ihm  ist  mein  Herz  zu  gross!)    

Ach,  du  kennst  ja  mein  Hers,  wie  es  geliebet  hat! 

Gleicht  ein  Hers  ihm  ?    Vielleicht  gleichet  dein  Hers  ihm  nur ! . . 

Dich  zu  finden,  ach  dich,  lernt'  ich  die  Liebe,  sie, 

Die  mein  eigenstes  Hers  himmlisch  erweiterte — 

(An  Cidli,  pp.  135,  136.) 

Unerforschter,  als  sonst  etwas  den  Forscher  tauscht, 

Ist  ein  Hers,  das  die  Lieb  empfand,   

noch  bebt  mir  mein  Herz — 

(Am  Cidli,  pp.  154,  155.) 

So  emport  auch  ihr  Hers  deinem  Gesange  schlagt : 

O  so  kennt  sie  doch  Gleimen, 

Und  sein  feuriges  Hers  nicht  ganz ! 

(An  Gleim,  p.  159.) 
mit  Freude  tief  im  Hersen — 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  174.) 
Wenn  meine  ganse  Seele  fleht — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  4.) 
Seele  entsilcken — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  pp.*  18,  19.) 

unsrer  Seele  wahrste  Ruh — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  22.) 

aus  ganser  Seele  ringen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  23.) 
Des  Frommen  Seele  denkt — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  31.) 
Aus  ganser  Seele   lieb  en    (meinen)    (weihen)    (flehen). 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  pp.  43,  44,  106,  40.) 
Seele  lechst — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  46.) 
Dieser  Endlichkeit  Looss,  die  Schwere  der  Erde 
Fiihlt  auch  meine  Seele — 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  15..) 
Erheb,  o  meine  Seele,  dich  iiber  die  Sterblichkeit — 

(Das  Anschaun  Gottes,  p.  29.) 


206  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 


Nein !    wenn  sie  nur  bewundert, 
Hebt  sich  die  Seele  zu  schwach! 

O  du  der  Seligkeiten  hochste, 
Ueberstrome  meine  ganze  Seele — 

Meine  Seele  stehet  still — 

Geneuss,  o  Seele,  deine  Seligkeit! 


(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  39.) 

(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  39.) 
(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  39.) 
(Der  Erbarmer,  p.  42.) 


Wenn  meine  reifere  Seele 
Jahrtausende  noch  gewachsen  wird  seyn, — 

(Die  Gluckseligkeit  Aller,  p.  46.) 

Des  Herzens  Werth    

Welch  gottlich  Meisterstiick  sind  Seelen — 

(Wingolf   III,  p.  86.) 

Die  ganze  Seele  bildet  in  ihm   [Blick]   sich  mir!   

Diess  vor  Empfindung  bebende  sanfte  Herz!  

Sahst  du  die  Thrdne,  welche  mein  Herz  vergoss — 

(Wingolf  IV,  V,  pp.  88.  89.) 

hat  Seelen,  die  sich  ftihlen,  gebildet. 

(Wingolf  VIII,  p-  95.) 
Sieht   dein   Auge   nicht   bang   um   sich   her,   nicht   starr   ohne 

Seele  ? 
(An  Ebert,  p.  99.) 

Seele  zur   Freundschaft   erschaffen,   du   dann   die   leeren 

Tage 
Sehn,  und  filhlend  noch  seyn? 

(An  Ebert,  p.  101.) 

Finstrer  Gedanke,  lass  ab!   lass  ab  in  die  Seele  zu  donnern! 

die  verstummende  Seele 

Fasst  dich,  Gedanke,  nicht  mehr ! 

(An  Ebert,  p.  102.) 

Und  Ruh,  durch  deine  Seele  giesst  ; 

So  war  ichs  auch,  die  dir,  in  deine  Seele, 
Der  Himmel  Frieden  goss! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.   142.) 
Und  zwo  bessere  Seelen  nun 

Ganz,  das  erstemal  ganz,  fuhlen  wie  sehr  sie  sind ! 

Wer  mit  Thranen?    und  wer  mit  dem  verweilenden, 

Vollem  Blick ,  und  der  Seele  drin?   

O  dann  wahlte  die  Seele  falsch — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  154.) 
Oben  beginnt  jezo  der  Psalm,  den  die  Chore 
Singen,  Musik,  als  ob  kunstlos  aus  der  Seele 

Schnell  sie  stromte !   

Kraftvoll,  und  tief  dringt  sie  ins  Herz! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  229.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  207 

In  Hermanns  heisser  Seele — 

(Hermann,  p.  266.) 
Wir  fiihlen  dich  zwar — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  21.) 
mit  heiligem  Schauer,  filhl'  ich  der  Liifte  Wehn, — 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  19.) 

Denn  sie  denken,  sie   [die  Welten]   fiihlen 
Deine  Gegenwart  nicht. 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  21.) 

Wie  fuhV  ich  es  in  mir,  wie  klein  ich  bin! 

(Die  Gliickseligkeit  Aller,  p.  49.) 
Gefilhl  der  Entziickung — 

(Der  Tod,  p.  65.) 
Mein  filhlend  Herz — 

(Wingolf  IV,  p.  88.) 

fiihlend  noch  seyn — 

(An  Eber't,  p.  101.) 
Welch  ein  Gefilhl  glilhte  mir! 

(Bardale,  p.  105.) 

der  fiihlenden  Fanny  gleich — 

(Der  Zurchersee,  p.   116.) 
Ach  du  machst  das  Gefilhl  siegend — 

(Der  Zurchersee,  p.  118.) 

dieses  Gefilhl  so  sanft — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  135.) 
Wacht  der  Freigeist  mit  dir,  und  fiihlts — 

(An  Young,  p.  148.) 

O  Freyheit !   

Dem  Herzen  gross  Gefilhl! 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  71.) 

dunkles  Gefilhl  der  Entziickung 

o  Gefilhl,  Weissager 

Inniger  ewiger  Ruh  — 

(Die  Zukunft,  p.  186.) 
Wonnegefiihl  hebt  sie  empor — 

(Die  Chore,  p.  229.) 
Ja,  Melodie,  aber  verwebt  von  des  Herzens 
Feinstem  Gefilhl! 

(Teone,  p.  235.) 
Ach !    warum,  o  Natur,  warum,  unzartliche  Mutter, 
Gabst  du  zu  dem  Gefilhl  mir  ein  zu  biegsames  Herz? 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  279.) 

Filhle  diess  bebende  Herz!    

Was  mein  liebendes  Herz,  meine  Selma,  dir  filhlt! 

Und  diess  Ach  des  Gefilhls — 

(Selmar  und  Selma,  p.  285.) 


208  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Ihn  empfind,  und  in  ihm  lebe —   

Er  seinen  Schopfer  empfindet — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  pp.  20,  21.) 

Ich  empfinde  dich — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  4.) 

Meine  Seele  diirstet !    

Du  denkst,  du  empfindest, — 

(Dem  Allgegenwartigen,  p.  22.) 

Ohn'   Empfindung  des   Augenblicks — 

(Das  Anschaun  Gottes,  p.  28.) 

Und  der  Junglinge  Herz  schlug  schon  empfindender 

Und  wir  Junglinge  sangen, 
Und  empfanden,  wie  Hagedorn. 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.   117.) 

Gottinn  Freude!  du  selbst!  dich,  wir  empfanden  dich! 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  118.) 

Aber  euch  sag  ich  sie  ganz  des  vollen  Herzens  Empfindung- 
Wie  das  Hers  sie  empfand,  — 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  125.) 

Wer  mehr  empfand,  blieb  unbeweglich  stehen,  — 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  137.) 

Den  Gedanken,  die  Empfindung,  treffend,  — 

(Unsre  Sprache,  p.  242.) 

dein  gleich  empfindendes  Herze,  — 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  281.) 

Alle  empfind  ich  von  dir ;   

Kaum,  dass  noch  die  fiihlende  Seele 

Ganz  die  voile  Gewalt  dieser  Empfindungen  fasst! 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  283.) 

Ihren  gottlichsten  Trieb  lockt  dein  Gesang  hervor. 

(Bar dale,  pp.  104,  106.) 

und  riihrt  dich 

Etwa  der  Dichter  allein? 

(Teone,  p.  235.) 

wie  dankbar 

Wallt  mein  freudiges  Herz  in  mir! 

(An  Cidli,  p.  135.) 
(Der    Verwandelte.) 

Jeder  wallende  Hauch  deiner  beseelten  Brust 
Hebt  mich  zu  den  Unsterblichen. 

(Petrarca  und  Laura.) 

In  describing  the  intimate  relations  of  the  human  emo- 
tions between  individuals,  as  well  as  between  man  and  God, 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  209 

the  mysticists  make  use  very  frequently  of  Liebe,  Freund, 
and  edel. 

Ziinde  an  die  Liebesfiamme 

Zinzendorf.     ( Krummacher,  pp.   113,   126.) 
O  grosse  Lieb,  o  Lieb  ohn  alle  Masse — 

(Miitzell,  p.  39.) 

Deiner  Liebe  Brunst — 

Opitz,  1634-1635?     (Miitzell,  p.  204.) 

Auch  mein  Hers  brennt  vor  Lieb — 

(Schlegel,   p.   73.) 
Die  Flamme  deiner  Liebe — 

(Schlegel,  p.  113.) 
Du  Herz-vertraute  Liebe — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  13, — 1717.) 
Von  seiner  durchdringenden  Liebe  geriihrt — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  47,-1722.) 

Wie  labet  uns  der  Trank,  den  Seine  Liebe  quillet! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  48,-1722.) 
Du  hoch  gebenedeyte  Liebe — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  93,-1723.) 
Ziind  alien  ihren  Wandel 
mit  Deiner  Liebe  an. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  104,-1724.) 
O  Liebe!    wunderbares  Gut Liebes-Glut- 


Herz  der  offenbarten  Liebe 
Unsre  Her  sen  op  fern  Dir 
Liebe  hier — 

Gluht  der  ewgen  Liebe — 


(Zinzendorf,  p.  146, — 1726.) 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  196,-1728.) 
(Zinzendorf,  p.  250,-1730.) 


Bruder-Liebe   

Theure  Briider!    eure  Liebe 
Ziindet  meine  lauen  Triebe. 

(Zinzendorf,  pp.  254,  257,-1730.) 
Wenn  Du  nicht  vor  Liebe  brenntest — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  280,-1731.) 
Die  Liebe  macht  die  Seele  still — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  285,-1731.) 
Innigst-liebe  Liebe! 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  315, — 1732.) 
Mich  reisst  ein  Brand  der  Liebe  hin — 

(von  Moser,  p.  12.) 
Du  unerschopfliches  Meer  von  gottlicher  Menschen-Liebe! 

(von  Moser,  p.  60.) 


210  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Je  mehr  wird  auch  der  Liebe  Glut  entziindet— 

(von  Moser,  p.  68.) 
In  deren  Herzen  reine  Liebe  flammet — 

(von  Moser,  p.  69.) 
Wann  ihm  sein  Liebes-Herz  nicht  brennte— 

(von  Moser,  pp.  74,  121.) 
Todte  durch  Dein  Liebes-Feuer — 

(von  Moser,  p.  117.) 
O  Liebe!    komm!    entziinde  meinen  Geist — 

(von  Moser,  p.  130.) 
Gegen-Liebe  Glut — 


....  wie  er  sich  mir 

Mit  Freundschaft  hat  verbunden — 

mit  seinem  hocherhabnen  Freund, 
mit  Gott,  stets  inniger  vereint! 


(von  Moser,  p.  139.) 
(Miitzell,  p.  34.) 
(Schlegel,  p.  2.) 


Christum  lieben  ist  die  Kette, 
So  die  Freundschaft  feste  macht 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  49.— 1723- ) 
Wenn  aber  Christus  uns  von  neuem  erst  verbunden: 
So  ist  die  Freundschaft  auch  mit  leichter  Miih  gefunden — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  101,-1724.) 
Du   auserkorner  Seelen-Freund — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  146,-1726.) 
SzeXtn-Freund — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  167,-1727.) 
Freund  der  Seelen — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  171,-1727.) 
Mein  Schmelzer  ist  zugleich  der  Freund, 

Den  meine  Seele  liebet 

(von  Moser,  p.  101.) 
O  Freund!    es  wallt  in  mir — 

(von  Moser,  p.  149.) 

die  edle  Seele — 

Joh.  Hermann,   1630.     (Miitzell,  p.   16.) 
Gieb  mir  deinen  edlen  Sinn — 

(Schlegel,  p.  136.) 
Zahl  der  Edlen — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  170,-1727.) 

Ihr  Ausdruck  ist   Voll  edler  Einfalt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  50.) 

In  common  with  the  Pietists  Klopstock  employs  "Liebe" 
and  "Freund";  he  does  not,  however,  confine  himself  so 
strictly  to  a  religious  meaning,  but  more  often  emphasizes 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  211 

the  purely  human  value  of  love  and  friendship.  Naturally 
then,  too,  our  poet  lays  greater  stress  on  the  noble  quality 
— das  Edle — of  human  sentiment  and  action,  and  intro- 
duces the  term  "Menschlichkeit".  In  fact,  this  term  may 
be  considered  the  watch-word  of  Klopstock's  whole  en- 
deavor,— nobility  of  character  as  expressed  in  "Menschlich- 
keit". 

Aus  gamer  Seele  lieben — 


Aus  gam  em  Her  sen  lieben — 

Ach,  Bardale,  du  singest 
Liebe  zu  den  Unsterblichen ! 


(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  43.) 
(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  91.) 

(Bardale,  p.  104.) 

Sang  ich  von  Liebe  dir? 

1st  das  Liebe,  was  dir  zartlich  vom  Auge  rinnt? — 

(Bardale,  p.  106.) 
Ihr  andern    [Stunden],  seyd  der  schwermuthsvollen 
Liebe  geweiht! — 

(An  Fanny,  p.  110.) 

Ach,  sie  finden  sich  nicht,  die  fur  einander  doch, 
Und  zur  Liebe  geschaffen  sind. 

(An  Bodmer,  p.  114.) 

Liebe,  dich, 

Fromme  Tugend,  dich  auch  giessen  ins  sanfte  Hers — 

(Ziirchersee,  p.  119.) 

Lang  in  Trauren  vertieft,  lernt'  ich  die  Liebe,  — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  134.) 

Darum  liebe  mich,  Cidli, 

Denn  ich  lernte  die  Liebe  von  dir! 

Dich  zu  finden,  ach  dich  lernt'  ich  die  Liebe, — 

(An  Cidli,  p.  136.) 

Unerforschter,   als  sonst  etwas  den  Forscher  tauscht, 

1st  ein  Hers,  das  die  Lieb  empfand, 

Jeine  trunk ene  Lust,  wenn  die  erweinete 
Fast  zu  selige  Stunde  kommt, 

Die  dem  Liebenden  sagt,  dass  er  geliebet  wird !   

Ach,  wie  gliicklich  dadurch!     Wer  der  geliebet  wird  spricht 
Diese  Liebe  mit  Worten  aus? 

(An  Cidli,  p.  154.) 

wenn  sie  [die  voile  Seele],  dass  sie  geliebt  wird, 

Trunken  von  Liebe  sichs  denkt! 

(An  Sie.) 


212  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Aber  susser  ists  noch,  schoner  und  reizender, 

In  dem  Arme  des  Freundes  wissen  ein  Freund  zu  seyn! 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  120.) 
O  so  bauten  wir  hier  Hutten  der  Freundschaft  uns! 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  120.) 

dieser  [Konig]  wird  Menschenfreund 

Seyn,  und  Vater  des  Vaterlands! 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  121.) 

Seinen  brennenden  Durst,  Freunden  ein  Freund  zu  seyn ! 

(An  Gleim,  p.  159.) 
Das  Gesetz  der  heiligen  Freundschaft — 

(Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain,  p.  258.) 

Ein  lauter  Seegen 

Jauchzt  dem  edleren  zu, — 

(Fin*  den  Konig,  p.  9.) 
Edel  handelt! — 

(Fiir  den  Konig,  p.  10.) 

Wie  sich  die  wenigen  Edlen  liebten ! 

(Wingolf  V,  p.  92.) 

was  das  Herz  der  Edlen  hebet — 

(Wingolf  VI,  p.  94.) 

San  f ten  edlen  Gefiihls — 

(An  Giseke,  p.  98.) 
Wenn  in  des  edelmuthigen  Gellert — 

(An  Ebert,  p.  100.) 
Einen  Begliickteren,  doch  nicht  edlern! 

(An  Fanny,  p.  109.) 
....  1st  des  Schweisses  der  Edlen  werth ! 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  119.) 

war  der  Eroberer 

Fiir  den  Edleren  viel  zu  klein ! 

(Friedrich  der  Fiinfte,  p.  121.) 

Und  die  Edlen  nicht  kennen 
Die  so  einsam  hier  unten  sind? 

(Friedensburg,  p.  132.) 

Wer  edel  herrscht,  hat  doch   Jahrhunderte  gelebt ! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  143.) 

mit  edlern  Blick — 

(Die  beyden  Musen,  p.  151.) 

Sprich  nur  wider  dich  selbst  edel,  und  ungerecht! 

(An  Gleim,  p.  160.) 

Aber  das  edelste 
1st  Tugend! 

(Der  Rheinwein,  p.  166.) 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  213 

So  wahr  die  Natur  kein  edleres  Herz  nicht 

Ohne  den  heiligsten  Trieb  derer,  die  ewig  sind,  schuf ! 

(Die  kiinftige  Geliebte,  p.  282.) 

Dass  er  die  Ehre  der  Menschlichkeit  sey!   

Sanftes   Leben,   du   Gott   der  Menschenfreunde ! 

Giebs  dem  Theuren,  dem  Guten, 

Ihm,  der  die  Wonne  der  Menschlichkeit  ist! 

(Fur  den  Konig,  pp.  8,  9,  11.) 

Gottinn  Freude !   ....   Schwester  der  Menschlichkeit — 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  118.) 

Der  nennt  der  Menschlichkeit  Ehre, 

Welcher  Friederich  nennt !   

Ach  den  Tag  wird  dann  der  sanften  Menschlichkeit  Lohn  seyn — 

(Friedrich  der  Funfte,  p.  126.) 

Es  ist,  in  diesem  hohern  Leben, 

Fur  sanfte  Menschlichkeit  viel  Lohn — 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.   142.) 

Die  Menschlichkeit,  diess  grosste  Lob  der  Erde ! 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  143.) 

Ein  hoher  Genius  der  Menschlichkeit 
Begeistert  dich. 

(Der  jetzige  Krieg.) 

Klopstock's  fondness  for  "Freude"  and  "Wonne",  also, 

is  foreshadowed  in  the  religious  mysticists.     With  the  latter, 

as  we  should  expect,  the  religious  significance  is  uppermost. 

Himmelsfreud — • 

(Miitzell,  p.  36.) 

Freuden-voll — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  36, — 1721.) 

[der  Geist]    hat  den  Quell  der  Freude  funden; 

Und  war  die  Freud  in  siisser  Still. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  123,-1725.) 

Das  Herz,  von  Freude'  geruhrt — 

(von  Moser,  p.  82.) 

Komm  Ewigkeit    Inbegriff  innigster  Wonne  — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  40,-1721.) 

In  Klopstock  we  find: — 

Wenn  ich  im  freudigen  Gebet — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  4.) 

Voll  von  ihres  Gottes  Freuden — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  20.) 


214  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

....   dein  Blut 

Entflamm  die  Glut 

Der  Geist  der  Freudigkeit  in  uns 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  25.) 

der  sich  da  freut,  wo  Freud  ist — 

(Der  Vorhof  und  der  Tempel,  p.  68.) 
Wir  freun  uns  Himmelsfreuden, — 

(Das  grosse  Hallelujah,  p.  69.) 
Unter  dem  Fliigel  der  Freud'  umarmen. 

(Wingolf  I,  p.  81.) 
Kommt,   unaussprechlich   susse  Freuden! 

(An  Fanny,  p.  110.) 

Siisse  Freude, — 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  116.) 

Gottinn  Freude — 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  118.) 

warum  ergiesset  sich 

Diese  Freude,  der  Reiz  heller  vom  Auge  herab? 

(Friedensburg,  p.  131.) 

Und  mir  wachen  mit  Lacheln 

Alle  schlummernde  Freuden  auf !   

wie  dankbar 

Wallt  mein  freudiges  Herz  in  mir! 


. . .   der  Liebling  der  Freude- 


(An  Cidli,  p.  135.) 
(An  Gleim,  p.  158.) 


Nicht  mit  der  larmenden  Pracht 
Der  Freude  tief  im  Herzen — 

(Das  neue  Jahrhundert,  p.  174.) 

Wonn'  und  Dank  und  Freudenthranen — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  10.) 

Wonn'  erfullt 

Mir  das  Herz,  wenn  du  dein  Lied,  Himmlische,  singst. 

(Siona,  p.  189.) 
Wonnegefuhl  hebt  sie  empor, — 

(Die  Chore,  p.  229.) 

Wonnel     Das  Volk  halt  sich  noch  kaum ! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  230.) 

The  mystical  conception  of  the  Divine  Presence  in  the 
soul  necessarily  called  forth  the  term  "Geist"  very  frequent- 
ly in  the  writings  of  the  Pietists.  The  God-illumined  soul 
was  filled  with  the  "holy  spirit" ;  and  insofar  it  was  raised 
up  and  above  its  common  earthly  level  to  the  higher,  the 
nobler,  the  sublime. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  215 

Wie  wird  der  Geist  dadurch  entzuckt — 

(Schlegel,  p.  2.) 
Send  ihnen  den  Geist  mit  Flammengneist — 

(Arndt,  p.  141.) 
Durch  deinen  Geist 
Mir  Hilfe  leist. 

(Miitzell,  p.  30.) 

Und  der  erloste  Geist  ist  Dir  zum  Opfer  recht — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  39—1721.) 

Und  meinen  Geist  in  Ewigkeit  bekranzen — 

Zinzendorf,  p.  17—1720.) 

Noch  eines  Freundes  Herz  mit  deinem  Geist  verbinde — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  44,-1722.) 

Das  von  der  Gottheit  selbst  in  Ihm  entflammte  Licht 
Begont  in  seinen  Geist  viel  heller  einzuscheinen. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  80,-1723.) 
So  steht  der  Geist  doch  ungebunden — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  123, — 1725.) 
Wir  wiinschen  ihr  der  Salbung  sanftes  Regen, 
Darinnen  sich  der  gute  Geist  bewegt. 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  160,-1727,) 
Lass  Dein  Leben  ihren  Geist 
Auf  das  kraftigste  erheben — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  197,-1728.) 
Ach  Geist  des  Herrn !     komm  uberschatte  sie — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  226, — 1729.) 
Und  im  Geist  zusammentreten — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  256,-1730.) 
Je  mehr  der  Geist  zur  Ruhe  zieht — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  272,-1730.) 
Christen Aus  dem  Geist  des  Herrn  gezeuget — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  279—1731.) 
Der  Geist  der  Aeltesten  kam  plotzlich  uber  dich — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  326, — 1733.) 

Entziinde  meinen  Geist  und  Leyer — 

(von  Moser,  p.  11.) 

Ich  schwing  mich  aus  dem  Creys  der  Welten 
Durch  den  mir  eingeblasnen  Geist — 

(von  Moser,  p.  12.) 

Wie  unaussprechlich  weit  erhaben 
Empfindet  sich  mein  edler  Geist — 

(von  Moser,  p.  26.) 

Was  f unlet  nicht  mein  Geist  von  Frieden! 

(von  Moser,  p.  33-) 


216  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Du  Geist  des  Herrn!    mit  Deiner  Fiille 
Versenke  Dich  in  meinen  Geist — 

(von  Moser,  p.  39.) 
Geist-Schopfer — 

(von  Moser,  p.  40.) 

Wird  doch  der  Geist,  auf  den  er  gnadig  blicket, 

Trostvoll  entziicket — 

(von  Moser,  p.  68.) 
So  fuhlet  sich  unser  Geist  voll  Licht — 

(von  Moser,  p.  81.) 

du  Geist  der  himmlisch  reinen  Liebe — 

(von  Moser,  p.  107.) 
Der  Geist   fuhlt  sich  mehr   frey  und  seelig — 

(von  Moser,  p.  114.) 

Likewise  in  Klopstock  do  we  find  repeated  use  of  "Geist" 
with  similar  mystical  meaning. 

Geist  der  Salbung — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  17.) 
Geist  Schopfer,  Gott! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  24.) 
Entflamm  die  Glut 
Du  Geist  der  Freudigkeit  in  uns. 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  28.) 
Des  Geistes  Salbung  send  uns  Gott! 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  57.) 
Dann  hebt  mein  Geist  sich — 

(Dem  Erloser,  p.  6.) 
Wie  erhoht,  Weltherrscher, 
Deine  Bewundrung  den  Geist  des  Staubs! 

(Die  hochste  Gliickseligkeit,  p.  66.) 

Dann  soil  mein  Schutzgeist — 

(Wingolf  II,  p.  83.) 

ewiger  Geist,  Seele  zur  Freundschaft  erschaffen — 

(An  Ebert,  p.  101.) 

Und  den  Geist,  der  diess  alles  schuf ! 

(Bardale,  p.  107.) 
Des  Landes  Schutzgeist — 

(Die  Koniginn  Luise,  p.  141.) 

Das  Werk  des  Meisters,  welches  von  hohem  Geist 
Gefliigelt  hinschwebt, — 

(Fragen,  p.  147.) 

des  Deutschen  Geist 

(Der  Rheinwein,  p.  164.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  217 

So  verkiindiget'  ihn,  als  er  noch  Jungling  war, 
Sein  aufsteigender  Geist! 

(An  Gleim,  p.  161.) 

Jetzt  brachte  Geister  ihm, 

Die  sie,  in  Nachten  des  Monds,  Liedern  entlockt, 
Die  Nome  Werandi, — 

(Skulda,  p.  213.) 

Was  nicht  fiillet  den  Geist  mit  Schauer! 

(Die  Chore,  p.  229.) 

kommst  du  von  dem  begeisternden 

Achaerhomus  ? 

CWingolf  I,  p.  79.) 

Da  kommst  du  jetzt  her,  hast  aus  dem  Mimer  schon 
Die  geistervolle  silberne  Flut  geschopft! 

(Wingolf  I,  p.  80.) 

hell  der  Begeisterung!   

Sie  fiihret,  hoch  den  Fliigel,  Begeistrung  her! 

(Wingolf    IV,    p.    90.) 

Und  in  Begeisterung  vertieft  und  ernstvoll — 

(Wingolf  VII,  p.  94.) 
Suss  ist,  frohlicher  Lenz,  deiner  Begeistrung  Hauch, — 

(Der  Ziirchersee,  p.  118.) 
Wolkenlos  herauf,  nahte  die  Begeistrung  mit  ihm, — 

(Braga,  p.  207.) 
O  Begeistrung! 

(Unsre  Sprache,  p.  242.) 
Schone  Natur,  Begeistrung  sey  mir  dein  Anschaun. 

(Lossreissung.)l 

Closely   related   to   "Geist"   are   the   words   "Salben"   and 
"Salbung". 

Woll'st  auch  die  Diener  salben — 

(Krummacher,  p.  205.) 
Wir  wunschen  ihr  der  Salbung  sanftes  Regen — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  160,-1727.) 

Deine   Salbung   zu   empfangen — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  196,-1728;  and  p.  316,-1732.) 

Den  Laut  der  Salbung  zu  verstarken — 

(Zinzendorf,  p.  285,— 1731.) 

1  Compare  in  Herder : 
Ja  ewig,  ewig!  iiber  alien  Kreis  der  Zeit 
hoch  durch  den  Zeitstrom  aller   Sonnenmeere   schwing  dich 
mein  Geist  zur  Ewigkeit     (Suphan  XXIX,  pp.  235,  236.) 
Mein  edles  Herz  schlagt  freier,  und  mein  Geist  denkt  hoher  auf. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  p.  612.) 


218  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Welch  eine  Salbung  durchstromt  mein  Herz! 

(von   Moser,   p.   33-) 
Wann  Deine  Salbung  in  mir  spricht, — 

(von  Moser,  p.  54.) 

Den   Du  mit   Deiner  Salbung  weyhst, — 

(von  Moser,  p.  55.) 
Den  Nahmen,  welcher  unser  Herz  erfreut 

Und  als  ein  Salbol  Geist  und  Seel  erneut, 

Gesalbt  mit  Gottes  Majestat — 

(von  Moser,  p.   130.) 
Lass  Deine  Salbung  uns  durchdringen — 

(von  Moser,  p.   137.) 
Erneure  mich  mit  Deinen  S  alb  ungs- Kraft  en- 

(von  Moser,  p.   144.) 

We  find  instances  of  the  use  of  the  same  word  in  Klop- 
stock. 

Geist  der  Salbung — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  17.) 
Die  Salbung,  die  vom  Himmel  fliesst — 

(Geistliche  Lieder,  p.  51.) 
Leben,  ja  leben  soil  mein  Gesalbter! 

(Die  Genesung  des  Konigs,  p.  52.) 

The  art  of  music,  with  its  law  of  "Harmonie",  gives 
birth  to  the  thought  (foreshadowed  in  the  writings  of  the 
mysticists)1  in  Klopstock's  mind  that  a  similar  law  of  har- 
mony governs  the  play  of  all  human  faculties,  the  perfect 
union  of  which  would  make  the  complete  man.  As  early 
as  1747  he  recognizes  in  his  friend,  Ebert,  an  approach 
to  this  ideal;  he  sings  of  him: 

Dir  schlagt  ein  mannlich  Herz  auch !    Dein  Leben  tont 
Mehr  Haromnien,  als  ein  unsterblich  Lied. 

(Wingolf  VI,  p.  94.) 
A  year  later,  he  says  of  his  old  teacher,  Gellert : 

Wenn  in  des  edelmiithigen  Gellert  harmonischem  Leben 
Tede  Saite  verstummt ! 

(An   Ebert,  p.   100.) 

On  the  final  day  of  reckoning  the  poet  believes  this  perfect 

harmony  of  all  things  will  be  brought  about. 

*In  gleicher  Harmonie  (Zinzendorf,  p.  104,-1724);  Harmonie 
(von  Moser,  p.  20)  ;  Verschmaht  nicht  unsre  Harmonien, —  (von 
Moser,  p.   112). 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  219 

Was  in  der  Dinge  Lauf  jetzt  missklingt, 
Tonet  in  ewigen  Harmonien! 

(An  Fanny,  p.  109.) 

Wer  gab  Harmonie,  Leyer,  dir? 

(Die  Gestirne,  p.  61.) 
Es  drangen  alle  Genien  sich 
Der  entziickten  Harmonie  um  ihn  her. 

(Sponda,  p.   193.) 

Herder,  like  Klopstock,  employs  the  word  "Harmonie"  in 
describing  the  unity  of  nature ;  but  he  also  uses  almost  inter- 
changeably with  it  the  term  "Sympathie",  which  plays  so 
great  a  role  in  Plotinus  and  the  Neo  Platonists. 


Von  Himmel  klingt  die  Harmonie; 
Und   Himmelsseelen  bindet  sie. 

Auf  Einem  Wege 

Ward  aus  allem  Sympathie 

Der  Spharen  sangen  mir  Harmonie; 
Der  Stimmen  siisseste,  Sympathie  . . 

Weisheit,   Nacht  und  Giite  weben 
In   des   Wurms   und   Engels   Leben 
Wahrheit,  Harmonie  und  Gliick. 

Sie  o   Sie    (Menschlichkeit) 
Die  Konigin  der  Harmonie. 

Es   schwebet   aus   den   Saiten; 
Es  lispelt  mir  ins  Ohr. 
Der  Geist  der  Harmonieen, 
Der  Weltgeist  tritt  hervor. 
Ich  bin  es,   der  die  Wesen 
In  ihre  Hiille  zwang, 
Und  sie  mit  Zaubereien 
Der  Sympathie  durchdrang. 


(Suphan   XXIX,  691.) 

(Suphan  XXIX,   130.) 

"(Suphan  XXIX,  189.) 

(Suphan  XXIX,  122.) 
(Suphan  XXIX,  607.) * 


(Suphan  XXIX,  93.) 


1  Compare :  Wo  in  einer  andern  Welt  Harmonieen  klingen 
(Suphan  XXIX,  107);  Der  Wesen  Harmonie  (140);  hore  mit 
Geistes  Ohr  die  hohe  Harmonie  (209)  ;  ich  fuhl  und  seh  und  hore 
die  Harmonie  der  ganzen  Sphare  schoner  Jugend  (286)  ;  horetest 
Harmonie  der  Sprachen  um  dich !  (325)  ;  schweig,  o  hohe  Harmonie 
meiner  Seelenkrafte !  (444)  ;  mein  Herz  ward  Spharenharmonie 
(559)  ;  und  ein  Sternengang  voll  ewger  Harmonieen  (560)  ;  Klang 
und  Maas  und  Sympathie   (153)  ;  Die  Harmonie  der  Welt   (157). 


220  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Des  Weltalls  siisse  Symphonien 
Umtonten  sie; 

Der  Liebe  siisse  Harmonieen 
|    Durchwallten  sie. 

(Suphan  XXIX,  151.) 

We  will  recall  that  according  to  Klopstock's  conception 
of  the  genius  the  greatness  of  the  artist  lay  in  the  fact  that 
he  could  not  alone  feel  this  harmony  of  soul  with  God,  which 
is  common  to  the  human  race,  but  that  in  addition  he 
possessed  a  certain  mysterious  power  which  enabled  him  to 
embody  in  lasting  form  what  his  divinely  inspired  soul 
experienced.  This  thought  receives  repeated  expression  in 
the  poet's  own  works;  and  in  describing  the  state  of  the 
artist's  feelings  during  moments  of  the  deepest  agitation, 
Klopstock  relies  on  the  language  of  the  mysticists. 

Vielleicht  schafft  Gott  Erkenntnis  in  mir, 
Die  meine  Kraft,  und  was  sie  entflammt, 
Wie  viel  es  audi  ist,  und  wie  gross, 
Die  ganze  Schopfung  mir  nicht  geben  kann ! 

(Die  Gluckseligkeit  Aller,   p.  49.) 

Feurig  beseelet  er  die  Saiten,  und  der  Felsen  lernts, 
Denn  die  Telyn  scholl ! 

(Braga,  p.  208.) 

Das  Werk  des  Meisters,  welches  von  hohem  Geist 
Gefliigelt  hinschwebt,  ist,  wie  des  Helden  That, 
Unsterblich!  wird,  gleich  ihr,  den  Lorber, 
Mannlich  verdienen,  und  nieder  sehen! 

(Fragen,  p.  147.) 

Wen  des  Genius  Blick,  als  er  gehohren  ward, 
Mit  einweihendem  Lacheln  sah, — 

(Der  Lehrling  der  Griechen,  p.  175.) 

Die  ganze  Lenz  streute  mein  Genius. 

(Wingolf   I,   p.   81.) 

OmW— Verdeckt  dem  Auge,  welches  der  Genius  nicht  scharft— 

(Wingolf  V,  p.  90.) 

Auch  dich  werd  ich  nicht  sehn,  wie  du  dein  Leben  lebst, 
Werd  ich  einst  nicht  dein  Genius. 

(An   Bodmer,  p.   114.) 

Sie  haben   hohen   Genius? 
Wir  haben  Genius,  wie  Sie? 

(Wir  und  Sie,  p.  220.) 


TREATMENT  OF  POETIC  LANGUAGE  221 

Uns  macht  Unsterblich  des  Genius  Flug — 

(Unsere  Fursten,  p.  225.) 

Leicht  springt  er,  ein  Genius,  auf, 
Spielt  am  Sprosse  des  Eichenhains! 

(Die  Barden,  p.  232.) 

Doch  verlasst  nie  dein  Phantom  meinen  Geist, 
Wie  ein  Bild,  welches  mit  Lust  Geniushand 
Bildete— 

(Stintenburg,  p.  237.) 

Noch  rauschest  du  stets  mit  Geniusfluge  die  Saiten  herab! 
(Der  Hiigel  und  der  Hain,  p.  254.) 

Und  in  Begeisterung  vertieft  und  ernstvoll, 
Auf  Lieder  sinnen. — 

(Wingolf  VII,  p.  95.) 

Denn  Jehova  redet! 

Zwar  durch  den  rollenden  Donner  auch 

Durch  den  fliegenden  Sturm,  und  sanftes  Sauseln; 

Aber  erforschlicher,  daurender, 

Durch  die  Sprache  der  Menschen. 

Der   Donner  verhallt,   der    Sturm  braust  weg,   das   Sauseln 

verweht, 
Mit  langen  Jahrhunderten  strbmt  die  Sprache  der  Menchen 

fort, 
Und  verkiindet  jeden  Augenblick, 
Was  Jehova  geredet  hat! 

(Der   Erbarmer,   pp.   40,   41.) 

die  Natur Sie  hats 

Gethan!  hat  Seelen,  die  sich  fiihlen, 
Fliegen  den   Geniusflug  gebildet. 

(Wingolf    VIII,    p.   95.) 

O  Begeistrung!  Sie  erhebt  sich!  Feuerigeres  Blicks, 
Ergiesset  sich  ihr  Auge,  die  Seel'  in  der  Glut! 

(Teutone.) 

wenn  euch  nicht   Geist  ward, 

Dem  die  Empfindung  heisser  glut,  wie  ihn  Bilder  entflammen, 
Und  in  dem,  Beherrscher  der  Flamm'  und  der  Glut,  das  Urtheil 
Unbezaubert   den   Ausspruch   thut — 

(Die  Rathgeberin.) 

Meinen  erhabensten 
Gedanken,  lehr'  ihn  Hoheit,  fuhr'  ihn 
Wahrheiten  zu,  die  es  ewig  bleiben, 

Dass  ich  den  Nachhall  derer,   dies'  ewig  sind, 
Den  Menschen  singe,  dass  mein  geweihter  Arm 
Vom  Altar   Gottes  Flammen  nehme, 
Flammen  ins  Herz  der  Erlosten  strbme! 

(Dem  Erloser.) 


222  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

The  poet  receives  his  inspiration  from  nature  herself  in 
her  most  beautiful  attire. 

Suss  ist,  frohlicher  Lenz,  deiner  Begeistrung  Hauch. 

(Der  Ziirchersee.) 

Aber  nun  wandelt  an  dem  Himmel  der  erhabne  Mond 
Wolkenlos  herauf,  nahte  die  Begeistrung  mit  ihm. 

(Braga.) 

Schone  Natur,  Begeistrung  sey  mir  dein  Anschaun. 

(Lossreissung.) 

Herder's  conception  of  genius  we  know  to  have  coincided 
very  closely  with  that  of  Klopstock.  In  his  description  of 
genius  Herder  once  employed  the  very  word  used  by  the 
religious  enthusiasts  to  describe  the  state  of  the  soul  when 
completely  rilled  by  the  Divine  Spirit.  He  writes  to  Ha- 
mann  in  1766;  "Ich  gestehe  gern,  dass  ich  das  Phlegma 
eines  homme  d'esprit  noch  gar  nicht  mit  dem  Enthusiasmus 
des  Genius  zu  verbinden  weiss".1  In  another  letter,  written 
to  Merk,  in  September  1770,  he  aims  to  explain  inspiration 
in  a  mystical  way,  not  however  in  the  narrow  church  sense : 
"Lasst  uns,  Freunde !  uns  zusammen  drdngen  und  uns  nach 
Herzenslust  idealisiren;  das  jagt  Funken  durch  Seel'  und 
Herz!  Wir  elektrisiren  uns  aneinander  zur  Wirksamkeit, 
und  in  der  Folge  auch  immjer  zum  Gliicke!  Das  ist  die 
Inspiration,  die  wunderbare  Schopferkraft  Belebung  der 
Seelen,  wie  der  elektrische  Funke  es  vielleicht  in  Blut  und 
Sonne  ist."2  We  will  recall  in  the  essay  on  the  ode  Herder 
uses  the  word  "fire"  in  reference  to  genius — "Odenfeuer",3 
"Feuer  des  Herrn",4  "Dies  freche  Feuer  des  Parenthyrsus 
ist  das  schopferiscke  Genie".5     He  says  all  true  works  of 

1  Lebensbild  I,  2,  ,p.  179. 

2Lebensbild   III,   1,   p.    116.     Compare:   "so   singt,   so   lang  ihr 
feurig  seid",  Suphan  XXIX,  412. 

3  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  64. 

4  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  87. 

5  Lebensbild  I,  3,  a,  p.  89. 


TREATMENT   OF   POETIC  LANGUAGE  223 

art  must  possess  "Feuer"  and  "Geist".1     In  1769  he  speaks 
of  a  "fiery  genius".2 

Finally  we  may  sum  up  the  whole  new  message  of  an 
ideal  humanity  which  Klopstock,  and,  in  his  foot-steps, 
Herder,  brought  to  Germany  in  Herder's  own  Stanza: 

"Ich 
bins  in  dem  die  Schopfung  sich 
punktet,  der  in  alles  quillt 
und  der  Alles  in  sich   fuhlt!3 

1  Lebensbild  I,  a,  a,  p.  96. 

2  Suphan   IX,  p.   83.     He   writes   to   Merk,    September   2,    1770 : 

"Die  elektrische  Empfindung  im  menschlichen  Herzen." 
—Lebensbild  III,  1,  p.  104. 

3  Suphan  XXIX,  p.  444. 


i 


CONCLUSION 

In  the  foregoing  work  Klopstock  and  Herder  have  been 
presented  as  two  noble  representatives  in  Germany  of  the 
"philosophical  age", — that  age  of  protest  against  the  intel- 
lectualism  of  the  preceding  century.  Klopstock  has  been 
described  as  the  first  poet  to  give  full  exprssion  to  that  new 
activity  which  aimed  to  awaken  true  humanity,  and  which, 
by  so  doing,  finally  transformed  man's  whole  intellectual, 
religious,  moral,  and  political  life.  The  poet  himself  was  a 
splendid  example  of  the  "complete  man",  "des  ganzen  Men- 
schen",  the  ideal  of  the  eighteenth  century,  whose  faculties, 
physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  and  all  that  enters  into  a 
personality,  had  the  fullest,  freest,  and  most  harmonious 
play.  The  genius  of  Klopstock,  kindled  at  the  new  spirit, 
turning  from  art  to  nature,  from  artifice  to  simplicity, 
became  the  creator  of  modern  German  poetry.  Herder, 
who  likewise  possessed  a  complete  command  of  his  facul- 
ties, and  partook  of  the  nature  of  genius,  was  able  to  ap- 
preciate fully  the  new  note  sounded  in  Klopstock's  poetry 
and  became  its  greatest  interpreter.  The  influence  of  both 
men  made  itself  felt  in  the  field  of  literature,  of  religion, 
and  even  in  the  affairs  of  country  and  government. 

In  the  realm  of  art  Klopstock,  as  poet,  and  Herder,  as 
constructive  critic,  proved  that  the  greatest  masterpieces 
are  products  of  the  imagination  and  not  the  result  of  spec- 
ulative reason.  Accordingly,  the  true  poet  is  a  genius,  a 
born  dreamer  possessed  with  originating  powers  which  bring 
forth  real  works  of  art,  unhampered  by  convention  or  rule. 


CONCLUSION  225 

Both  men  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  true  religion,  free 
from  all  formality  and  tradition.  To  them  religion  is  not 
theology,  but  is  the  intimate  relation  between  God  and  man 
as  it  finds  expression  in  the  relation  of  man  to  his  fellow- 
beings.  It  is  a  universal  and  fundamental  thing,  and  is  not 
confined  within  the  walls  of  the  church,  excepting  as  that 
is  the  formal  representative  of  religion.  "Menschlichkeit" 
is  the  one  great  word  taught  by  Klopstock  and  Herder; 
re-echoed  in  the  poetry  of  the  one  and  in  the  sermons  and 
prose-writings  of  the  other,  it  forms  the  basis  of  their 
religion. 

The  poet  and  the  critic  were  both  active  in  preserving 
Germanic  spirit,  at  a  time  when  many  things  threatened  to 
dissolve  it.  Their  patriotic  endeavors  were  a  direct  and  an 
indirect  means  of  arousing  the  Germans  themselves  to  a 
realization  of  their  own  abilities,  and  of  the  great  inher- 
itance bequeathed  to  them  by  a  rich  past.  At  a  time  when 
the  princes  and  rulers  of  the  country  turned  to  foreign 
models  in  all  things,  men  like  Klopstock  and  Herder  had 
to  keep  alive  national  consciousness;  without  them,  we  may 
say,  the  final  consolidation  of  Germany  would  have  been 
impossible. 

If,  now,  the  present  work  has  been  successful  in  present- 
ing in  a  new  light  the  positions  occupied  by  Herder  and 
Klopstock  in  the  cultural  history  of  Germany,  particularly 
in  their  relations  to  each  other,  its  original  purpose  will 
have  been  accomplished.  Should  this  book  in  addition  be 
the  humble  means  of  arousing  an  interest  in  the  life  and 
work  of  these  two  masters,  and  thus  introduce  if  but  a  very 
few  readers  to  that  great  world  of  ideas  comprehended  by 
both  Klopstock  and  Herder,  the  writer  will  be  most  boun- 
tifully repaid  and  feel  that  his  efforts  will  not  have  been 
in  vain. 


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230  HERDER  AND  KLOPSTOCK 

Miitzell,  Julius, 

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zu  Fanny".     11  Briefe  an  Bodmer,  1748-49. 


VITA. 


The  writer  was  born  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  October  3,  1885. 
He  was  graduated  from  the  Robert  A.  Waller  High  School 
(Chicago)  in  1905.  During  the  years  1905-1909  he  at- 
tended the  Ohio  State  University,  from  which  institution  he 
received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1909.  The  same 
year  he  was  elected  to  the  Ohio  Epsilon  Chapter  of  Phi  Beta 
Kappa.  He  was  Substitute  Instructor  in  Germanic  Lan- 
guages and  Literatures  in  the  Ohio  State  University  during 
1909-1910,  at  the  same  time  pursuing  graduate  work  in 
German  and  French  literature.  In  1910  he  was  elected  a 
University  Fellow  in  German  in  the  Graduate  School  of  the 
University  of  Illinois,  where  he  received  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  in  1911.  The  two  years  following  he  con- 
tinued as  Fellow  in  German  at  the  University  of  Illinois, 
from  which  institution  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy  in  1913. 


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